PTSD
by XFDraconus
Summary: Hotch runs into an old friend at the BAU to tie up loose ends. Will she move on from her demons? (Not a Hotch/OC pairing) There is a lot of jumping stories. I'm calling this the Rabbit Hole Series.** Follow me for the next installment as a Crossover "X-Minds" if you want to see what holds next for the team.**
1. PTSD is a Bitch

FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit

Quantico, VA

July 23, 2013 1:35 PM

A cab pulls up in front of the Quantico offices of the FBI. The weather has been much warmer than normal. A woman in emerges from the cab, pulling out an ABU camouflage backpack. Her auburn hair in a bun, with a few strays accenting her face, sporting her black tank top, tan tactical cargo pants, with matching tan boots. She stood 5'3", athletic build. She paid the driver and began to head to the front door.

Aaron Hotchner was sitting in his office going over paperwork from their most recent case. It was their week of rest until something comes along. He stands up to take some files to Rossi to go over. As he exited his office, he spots a woman clear across the bullpen. They make eye contact and they smiled at each other. He walked over to the woman, which caught the attention of the rest of the team.

"As I live and breathe, Agent Hotchner!" she called.

"Agent Stansen, wow you look great!" he smiled.

"Can it, boss! How have you been?"

"Can't complain and busy as ever."

She raises an eyebrow, "Busier than Paki?"

"In its own way."

"Understandable," looking around, "So this is the infamous BAU you bragged about?"

"Yeah," motions for her to follow, "Come on, let me introduce you the rest of the team!"

She picked up her backpack and she followed Hotch, she took notice of the eyes staring at them as she followed a few paces behind him. "Can I drop this somewhere without lugging this everywhere?" They begin to pass by his office. "Sure," he replied, "just drop it in here." She placed the bag in a chair and continued to follow him to the conference room. As she entered, five pairs of eyes trained on her presence.

"Guys, this is Agent Kira Stanson from the Air Force Office of Special Investigation. She worked for me while I was in Pakistan. Kira, this is Agent Emily Prentiss, Agent Derek Morgan, Agent Jennifer Jareau, or JJ, Agent David Rossi and Agent Alex Blake." She shook each of their hands. Behind her she heard a thud, startling her. She spun with her hand on her thigh, to see a colorful blonde hair woman. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Jumpy are we?" Morgan asks with a smirk. Hotch shot him a look that took the smirk off of his face.

"I am so sorry, but I was rushing to get here when I ran late from checking on Reid."

Kira quirked her eyebrow. "Dr. Reid is on leave right now after seeing his girlfriend get murdered." Hotch explained.

Kira nodded. "I understand that. Is that the genius you mentioned to me about?" He nods. "Oh."

"Garcia, this is Agent Kira Stansen from Air Force OSI, she and I were stationed in Pakistan together. Kira, this is Penelope Garcia, our technical analyst."

They shake hands. "Fancy title for a hacker." Kira jokes. Garcia's jaw drops. "Don't worry love, how did you think I got into the Air Force Cyber warfare Division? I'm familiar with your skills."

"I like her," Garcia smiles. "You two are two peas in a pod, trust me!" Hotch said shaking his head.

"Come on, Hotch, she can't be that much like Garcia?" Morgan asks.

Kira and Hotch looked at each other and grinned. "Let's just say if you were to say 'Bite Me!' I would reply with 'When, where, and how hard?" Morgan's hands fly up in the air. "I'm done!"

Looking at her watch, "Damn, 2 seconds, I didn't think I was THAT good! But I will take it as a compliment. Hehe." Morgan shakes his head, and the rest of the group cracks up laughing.

J.J. speaks up. "So what brings you here?" Kira shrugs. "Finished my work overseas after six years mostly. I am almost out the door with OSI, but I am going undercover with a couple FBI agents in a day or so to finish up some loose ends before I say I am done. Plus, this is more of an evaluation to see about coming into the FBI."

"Wow! Six years is a long time." Rossi states, "You spent all that time overseas without a break?"

"Not really, I have no family other than who I was deployed with. I want to stay stateside for a while. Hotch was like a father figure to me there. However, we go further back than that. But that's another story for another day."

"Where you staying at?" Hotch asked. "Lodging on the Marine Corps side of Quantico, since I leave in a couple days for my last case."

Garcia's eyes light up. "You can stay with me, we can go shopping before you go?"

"I don't know, I don't want to impose!"

"Don't be silly! I wouldn't ask if it was."

"Ok I accept, but I am not going clubbing anywhere until I get back. I've been sober and dry for six years and I have an early morning meeting at the Hoover Building first thing in the morning."

"Deal! Hotch, you mind if I take her to the apartment and help her get settled in since there isn't anything pressing?"

"Sure. Go ahead. It's good to see you Kira. I hope to see you when you get back. Hopefully, Dr. Reid will be around when you come back into town and you can meet him."

"Good to see you again, boss. Don't worry, I will call rather than drop in all of a sudden next time. Who knows, maybe I will work here." She follows Garcia out the door to retrieve her things.

Blake walks to his side. "How far back?"

Hotch grinned. "I first met her when I was a District Attorney when her parents were alive. They were cops. She went down the wrong path because of their choices. She got worse after they died and she finally got pinched. I was the prosecuting attorney. I made a deal with her, go to rehab, get clean, do good in school and maybe you will be like her parents like she originally wanted. She did, and ended up in the Air Force, then to the OSI, been like that ever since. I guess you can say I was responsible for that. Haley thought I was crazy for helping her like that, but I am glad to see her grown into the woman she is today."

Morgan nods. "I bet! What was her poison?"

Hotch looks at Morgan. "Diluadid and the occult."

Rossi's jaw dropped, "So that's why…."

"Uh huh…..she's been off the stuff for about 15 years now. I am thankful for her military training to subside the PTSD, so she never goes back to it."

JJ shakes her head. "Oi, that has got to be rough," Hotch nodded before he spoke.

"I kept up with her before after she left for the military, however I was pretty shocked to see her in Pakistan when I went. I guess I kept up her father figure type. I'm glad with how her life had turned out for the better somewhat, but she has more demons to deal with."

The rest of the team's eyes fell back on her and Garcia as they head out for the day.

****Authors note** Her story picks up in Interesting Trip in the X-Files archive, which I am in the process of finishing. Please read that before moving on to the next chapter when I pick this back up. This chapter was a prequel before moving on. **


	2. First Impressions

First Impression

For the few days after returning from her assignment, Kira was thrusted into debriefs and final outprocessing from her OSI unit. In between her mandatory appointments, she was able to find a place in Quantico to live and was able to get new furnishings and decorations to make it her own. The apartment looked bright, yet subtle in pinks and purples throughout the rooms. It would definitely make Garcia proud. She was on her terminal leave, which she had 6 months before her separation finally happens. Until then, it was on her own time. Hotch and Garcia helped her get situated, however they couldn't help but mention that Reid lived above her, which explained all of the care packages outside his front door, untouched.

Kira just finished her shower after her long run when her phone begins to buzz. She looks at the Caller ID. "Blocked" it read. Against her better judgement she answers her phone. "Stansen?"

"Agent Kira Stansen?" a male voice on the other line.

"For the time being, may I ask who is calling?" confused at this point.

"This is Assistant Director Walter Skinner, you were undercover with a couple of my agents?"

Her eyes widen. "Y..Yes sir. I remember. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I had some additional questions about your report to us that I wanted some clarification if you do not mind?"

"Ok…what would you like to know?"

"It is better if you come into the Hoover Building to discuss this."

"Is this a formal or informal request? You answer depends on my attire."

"Formal."

"Understood, I can be down there in about an hour."

"See you then." They hang up.

She gets dressed in her suit, and as she reached where she normally kept her weapon and holster she immediately realized she no longer had her badge or gun as she turned her stuff in for processing. Sure she had another firearm, but there was not a justification to carry, so she finished getting ready without, feeling naked in the process.

She grabs her overcoat and purse, and securely locked her apartment. She walks by the staircase and couldn't help but look up. Debating whether she should initiate contact was battling in her head. After a few minutes she decided to try to knock on his door. She slowly crept up the stairs and made it to his front door. She raised her fist up but hesitated. "This is crazy!" she thought. "Well I can just knock and say I am a new neighbor wanting to get to know everyone." She thought again, as she knocked a few times finally. She hears a little rustling behind the door, and footsteps approaching.

She hears someone unlocking the door, and the door opens. They looked at eachother, almost sizing the other up. "Dr. Spencer Reid?" he nods. "My name is Agent Kira Stansen from the Air Force Office of Special Investigation. I just transferred to Quantico. I actually moved in downstairs. I'm friends with Aaron Hotchner, and when I told him I moved here, he mentioned you lived here too…" She started to smile. "Sorry I am rambling." Reid smiled back at her. God, he looks so cute. "No problem, um,…." For once he was at loss of words. "Would you like to get a coffee sometime?" She smiled back at him. "Sure, I would like that." She hands him her card. "My cell number is there. I guess I will see you later." He nods at her as she turns and walked down the staircase. Reid shuts the door, while leaning into it, he holds the card, staring at it. "Maybe this is a new beginning." He heads into his bedroom, getting ready for his brand new day, brand new Spencer Reid.

As she departed the building heading to her car, she was curious what her future held for her.

A couple hours later, Kira was walking the hallways of the FBI not as OSI Agent, but now a FBI agent. She couldn't believe it, she wanted to pinch herself. She went to Human Resources to get her stuff started for her remedial training. She already had her firearm and badges issued. As she passed by another elevator, she stopped a random agent passing by.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where I can find Agent Mulder or Scully's office?"

The young male agent began to laugh. "Spooky and the Ice Queen is in the basement offices."

She shakes her head. "Thanks…" the male agent leaves, "Ass!"

She pushed the down button, which allowed the doors to open automatically. She steps in and pushes the basement button. She exited the metal box on her floor and walked down the hallway. She sees a door plate, "FOX MULDER, SPECIAL AGENT" She grins and knocks.

She hears a man through the door, "Nobody down here but the FBI's most UNWanted!" She smiled at his joke and entered the office, which was dimly lit, and upon first glance, other than the massive amount of filing cabinets, you can stuff an entire Science Fiction convention in this little room. She sees her friend with his back to her, sitting in front of a poster with a UFO and the words "I WANT TO BELIEVE" in bold letters.

"Scully I thought you were at the…" he turns before he finishes his statement, standing before him is Kira, with a grin on her face. "Kira!" he moves around his desk and pulls her into a hug. "Wow, you look amazing."

"Thanks Mulder, how's it going with you and Dana?"

"Doing well, we uh…..decided to embark on a different type of partnership. So we requested to be assigned to the Academy. What brings you here?" She looks to her breast pocket, his eyes trained on a FBI badge on her lapel.

"You're kidding?" She shakes her head.

"It was a condition if the operation went as well as it could be. Even though the case wasn't solved, but what we uncovered was a bigger threat than drugs just being smuggled."

"So where are you heading?"

"Well, I was assigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit. A friend I was deployed with is the Unit Chief there and he had an open spot, so it made sense to give it to someone he knows who can do the job. And speaking of which, I have to head out in a bit, but I had to stop and say Hi. I hope to see you guys often at Quantico?"

"Yes definitely. I'm sure you and Dana would love to get together when you aren't traveling. BAU is always busy."

"Yeah, so I have been told. See you later."

"Bye!" He watched her exit the office and head to the elevators. He turns on his heels and heads back to his files.

She exited the building and picked up her phone to place a call. "Hey PG, you will not believe what I have to tell you!"

**AN** I had to incorporate portions of my previous stories in case the timeframes were hard to follow. So hopefully from here on out, there won't be much mention of the X-Files for a while and the story will pick up.


	3. Getting Settled

Getting Settled

When Kira got the assignment to the BAU, Hotch and the others minus Reid were out on a case, however Hotch gave her some tasks to complete while they were gone. She arrived to the office at 6 AM to get started out of habit. When she was OSI, she was always the first to arrive, the last the leave. She always felt at peace and solace when she gets alone time to zone on her work. She wasn't much into wearing professional attire after being in the Middle East for so long. She wore her usual tactical cargo pants, boots, and polo shirt, but carried a suit on a hanger and smaller items in her gym bag for the just in case moment. As Hotch instructed, she got her gear and constructed her go bag in the trunk of her car.

By noon, she was in need of caffeine, and her stomach rumbled. She grabbed her wallet, phone, keys and jacket and begins to head to the elevator. "Kira!" she hears a cheerful woman behind her.

"Penelope! How are you?"

"Just came by to see how your first day going?"

"Fine, CBTs (Computer based training) are almost done! I'm heading out for some coffee. I noticed that a Green Bean Café just opened up."

"Oh, is it any good?"

"Yeah, they're all over the world. That's where Hotch and I got our coffee when we were deployed. Want to join me?"

"Sure, I was heading out myself."

"Cool!" As they walked to the doors to the BAU bullpen, they see Reid emerge from the elevators with his usual messenger bag, khakis, and button up shirt, covered by a black sweater vest, covered by a short overcoat.

Garcia smiled. "Reid!" she shuffled over to pull him in a hug. He returns it with a shy smile and steps back. Kira moves towards them. "Um…." He begins but remained quiet.

"Good to see you out and about Doc, " Kira began, she catches Garcia's confused expression and Kira explained their prior encounter in their building.

"So,…." He rocks on his heels, "What brings you here to the BAU?"

It was Kira and Garcia's turn to smile. "I was released from Active Duty with the OSI and I was referred to the FBI, got assigned here. Remember, I mentioned how I was a friend of Aaron Hotchner? When he was in Pakistan, I was assigned as his partner, and he worked with my parents at one time. So I got picked up here. I was working on initial evaluations and trainings today. Um…Penelope and I were heading to the new Green Bean Café actually. I am in serious need of caffeine. A MOAC would do wonders on my poor brain."

"MOAC?" Garcia and Reid said.

"Mother Of All Coffees, it's a quadruple shot of espresso, chocolate, and whipped cream. Hotchner and I took turns buying each other a round when the days were long."

"Want to join us, Reid?" Garcia asked.

"I don't think so, I don't want to interfere in your lunch."

"Doc, we are going to be working together, believe me, it doesn't bother me at all."

"Come on, Reid, please?" Garcia pleaded with a pout.

He sighed. "Alright I will come along." Both ladies smiled as Kira tapped the elevator button, and the doors opened. They loaded into the metal box and the doors closed.

Green Bean Café

Quantico, VA

They got their respective coffees and took a seat in the lounge area.

Garcia sat next to Kira, and Reid across from them, Reid spoke up. "So, how are you liking the BAU?"

Kira shrugs, "This is my first day officially but I met the rest of the team before I left for my last assignment and I can tell there's good chemistry there. Quite easy to get Morgan, Hotchner and Rossi to blush though." She smiles, taking a sip of her MOAC. "MMMM I missed this….."

"That good huh?" Garcia says with a grin.

"An orgasm in the mouth is the best description that wasn't mine to give." Kira winks.

Garcia's eyes widen and Reid was confused. "He did not!"

Kira giggled. "It happens when you sit with the same person nearly 20 hours a day, you pick up eachother's mannerisms and expressions." She looked at Reid's confused expression. "Hotchner said it, Doc." The expression on his face caused the girls to laugh harder. "I'm sorry Doc." The girls fought to gain more control of their giggles.

The three of them finish their coffees as Kira's phone rings. She looks at the phone and answers.

"Stansen?" Her eyes looked confused.

"Yes, I am aware of that, if you looked at my report there was prior exposure during the case. If you also look at the lab results from the other female agent, it would show the same thing. According to the doctors, the chemicals will take at least a couple weeks or so to metabolize out of the system."

Her eyes widen more. "Unless…ok I will get those samples into the lab at Quantico and have you run the labs. I am actually at lunch with a neighbor of mine, I will get a sample from there also and compare for a baseline, hopefully…..Ok I will stop by the labs and get the sample collection kits. Thanks for letting me know."

She leans back in her seat, her eyes spoke to Reid as she was deep in thought. "What's up?" he asked.

"I was on a case where there were drugs in the water supply, and when I transferred to the BAU after the case, I submitted to a drug test. The call was the lab at Quantico. I popped positive for a variety of drugs that I have no recollection of taking, and the exposure that I had on the case would have been metabolized by the time I took the test. I have to pick up a water sampling kit and take water samples at home. If you don't mind, I would like a sample from your apartment."

"Of course, you can come by tonight."

Kira rose out of her seat, "That being said, we need to get back. I'm going to be there after I pick up the sample kits and run it back. Meet you in about an hour?"

Reid nods. "Ok…." She grabs her coat and coffee. "It's a date then. You might want to head to the labs yourself and have your blood drawn in case your water supply is contaminated. Might want to shower elsewhere and have bottled water until we get the results?"

"Good idea. I will look into it." She nods in response and heads out.

Garcia looks at him. "What do you think of her, sweetie?"

"I don't know, she seems nice. I mean, … if Hotch can trust her, I am sure she is good people, but she seems to have a past, slightly paranoid, based on her manners, but it can be her military background."

"I think she is sweet on you, Boy genius."

"What? No way…."

"Seriously, Reid. What makes you think she isn't when she showed up to your front door, when in order to do so, she has to go the opposite direction instead of leaving the building?"

He shrugs. "Being neighborly?"

"Believe what you want, I think she is sweet on you."

"Well, I don't believe so, but we will see how things go. I guess I have to go to the labs and get my blood drawn." He stands to grab his stuff and Garcia does the same.

"Ready to head back?" he asked.

"Yeah," she responds and cleans up the table. "Seriously, Reid. You need something that makes you happy," she leans in to a whisper. "…and based on what I know of her, so does she."

They left the Green Beans Café and walked back to Quantico. Garcia headed back to her lair of screens, while Reid headed to the lab to have his blood drawn. He always hated needles, but he knew it was a necessary evil. After the lab, he decided to head home, after picking up some take out and a case of water. Upon completing his cleaning up, he decided to read a book that JJ gave him "Love and Respect" by Dr. Emerson Eggrich. She got it for him after a conversation that she had with him about her relationship with Will. He was very shocked she gave him such a read but, he humored her and read it, while awaiting that light knock that he remembered from a few days before.

**AN: The Green Beans Café is a true café that services all over the world. There is a way that if you want, you can donate coffee to the US Troops and Allied Forces overseas. It's called a Cup of Joe for a Joe. I received one from my deployment and it was the best coffee I have ever had. Here is the website below if you ever want to check it out. (Their smoothies are amazing by the way.**


	4. It's A Date

It's a Date

As Reid was finishing the last couple pages of the book, he hears the gentle knock that he was waiting for. He stands up and moves to the door. He looked through the peephole, observing Kira on the other side. He opens the door and took in her dressed down appearance. She was in a black tank top, yoga pants, sneakers and a purple sweatshirt tied around her waist. Her hair was let down out of her bun, resting at the middle of her back. "Hey, doc!"

Reid moves aside to let her in. She had a small bag on her shoulder. "Sorry I ran a little late. I got hung up at the labs."

"That's fine, I had just finished reading." As he closed the door.

She observed the book he was reading on the couch. "I can see that…." She moves to the kitchen counter and sits her bag on it. She opened her bag and pulls out a set of four jars. She takes one and pulls it aside. "This is for the faucet in the kitchen." She takes a sharpie and on each jar, she wrote the words, 'Shower Head,' 'Tub,' and 'Bathroom sink.' She hands them to him. "I need water samples from each of these out sources."

"Ok." He takes them as she turned the water to collect the sample. She marks her jar 'kitchen sink' as Reid came back with the other three jars. "Here we are." She takes them and opens a wooden box inside the bag and places them in box with four others. "Thank you for helping me with this, Doc!"

"No problem, but I have to ask, why do you call me 'Doc'?"

"Well aren't you a 'Doctor' of something?" she quips.

"Well,….yeah I have Ph. Ds in Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics…."

"And BA's in Sociology and Psychology…yeah I got that….I read your file, very impressive for a genius." She smiles. "I call you that as a form of respect. I came from a medical background before law enforcement, and the distinction is that if I were to say call you DOCTOR Reid, it's just a formality, there's no respect from me until you earn it. When I say, 'Doc' it means I not only respect you as a professional, but it is a term of endearment, and respect. I will only drop the 'Doc' part when you tell me to, and let me know what to call you at that point."

"But you called me that the first time you met me?"

"I was deployed with Hotchner, remember? He talked about you guys a lot, and he missed you guys terribly. From our conversations, I felt that I knew you guys for years. Before I left for my last assignment with OSI, I got to meet the team. I uh…..was told why you were on leave. I'm sorry to hear, I uh…can't imagine."

"Thank you…" he rocks on his heels. "I find it funny how much I loved someone without even touching them in life. I find it hard to talk to women outside of a work environment, so it was pretty devastating."

She nods. "From where I am standing, you are doing a decent job with me." She giggled.

"Well you are now my co-worker…." He shrugs.

"Not the first time I knocked on your door…."

"I don't know why I answered the door…..I guess it was me thinking you were one of the girls and I was just going to show my face at the door, and retract back…..but it was you instead of them."

"I honestly don't know why I knocked in the first place…." She chuckled. "I was pretty surprised you asked me for coffee. I don't typically go on dates if that was your intention initially, I'm not necessarily the type that dates. But having fun and enjoying other company is something different. Safest thing to do." She leans against the counter and crosses her arms.

"I'm not the dating type either, I mean, yeah, I went on one date for my birthday…" he smiles at the memory. "My mentor Agent Gideon, for my 24th birthday bought me two tickets to a Redskins game for the sole purpose of me to ask JJ on a date since she was a fan."

She smiled. "Wow! Those aren't cheap, but it was sweet of him. He must have really looked out for you. Did you have fun?"

"I was so nervous to ask her… I mean, she is beautiful, I thought she would laugh in my face. Other than that, the game itself was difficult to follow as I am not a sports fan. She had to break it down for me."

"Doc, from a woman perspective, any woman who says, 'No!' to you needs their head examined, for real."

"Reid….." she looked at him oddly….. "I'm sorry?" she looked confused.

"You can call me Reid, at work….Spencer outside of work if you choose." He explained.

"You can call me Kira anytime, Spencer."

"I'm sorry I am keeping you up, you have work tomorrow." He started moving to the living area.

"Tomorrow is Saturday, but I do need to get these samples to the Quantico labs at some point tomorrow. Want to continue the conversation of lunch after I drop the stuff off?"

"Um…sure, I was thinking of watching the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings all weekend."

"My favorite movies…I can bring back some chinese for lunch on my way back and we can eat here or my place tomorrow?"

"Um…sure…I'd like that." As she finishes packing the samples, he walked over to his desk in the corner and pulled a card and handed it to her.

She takes it and places it in her bag. "Great, I will call when I hit the food and ask what you want, then I will bring it."

He walks her to the door. "Thanks…..I will see you tomorrow?"

"It's a date!" she grins. "Good night!" she walks out and heads down stairs. He closed the door and leaned his head on the door. "I can't believe….wait…is this a date?" he whispers to himself. He heads to his bedroom and changes out of his regular clothes. He slips under the covers and slipped into a peaceful slumber.

When Kira made it back to her apartment, she sat the bag down on the table by the door. She began to turn on lights as she moved from the living room to the kitchen. She grabbed one of the bottles of water she brought home and headed to the bathroom. She used the water to wet her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. As she brushed she moved to the clock radio and flipped on the radio. She moved back to the bathroom as a song caught her attention. It was My Immortal by Evanescence. She finished brushing her teeth and downed the rest of the water. She slipped under the covers at the bridge began to play.

I tried to tell myself…that you're gone.

But though you're still with me,

I've been alone all along….

The band music gave her a sense of calm and peace that was indescribable to her. She began to pray to herself.

"Lord, I want to thank you for this day and thank you for the people that I have met along the way and those who I am about to. Lord I ask that you continue to watch over and bless the team and bring them home safely.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears

Lord, I want to lift Spencer to you, I know he has been through a lot, but please give him the clarity and wisdom to heal.

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.

Please give him a sense of peace. I ask these things in your precious name, Amen.

And I held your hand through all of these years,

But you still have all of me….me…..me…me

As the song began to fade, she slips into her own slumber as sleep threatened to cut her prayer to God short.


	5. PTSD Emerges

PTSD Emerges

The next morning Kira's alarm went off at 4 AM like any other morning. She got up and grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen floor, and headed into the bathroom. She opened her cabinet to retrieve a wash cloth in her bathroom. She closed the cabinet and turned to her mirror. She opened her bottle and poured it on the clean piece of cloth, taking care of her still healing bruises from her last case. The flashbacks of her nightmares came in small bursts.

**Crashed into the wall, crumbled to the floor.** She shakes her head at the memory. She continues wiping her face.

**Nails ripping her flesh.** She dropped the wash cloth and gripped the sides of the sink, fresh tears began to well in her eyes, her breathing was becoming labored.

She straightened herself up and walked into the bedroom, throwing on her jogging sweats and shirts. As she threw on her sneakers, she gets a text message from Hotch letting her know they were back in town, and how things were working.

_Good so far, finished the initial trainings and paperwork. Heading to Quantico Labs now. You going to be at the office?_

She grabbed her bag and as she locked her door, she receives a reply on her iPhone.

_Yes, do you need to talk?_

She nods to herself before replying.

_Please._

As she places her headphones on to head out the door, she receives another message.

_I will be here._

As she heads downstairs to the exit, she noticed a man moving a soft water tank out the door into an unmarked van. She pretends to play with her phone and was able to get a picture of the van with a partial plate number.

The van drives off and she heads into the basement of the building. She pulls out a flashlight from her bag and starts looking around. She surveyed the tanks, looking for the most recently installed or tampered. She stopped on two tanks that looked different than the others. As she got closer, she recognized one of the parts. She pulled gloves out of her bag. Upon donning the gloves, she pulled the connecter off and unscrewed the contraption off the tank's tubes. It was a dialysis filter. She moved to the bag and grabbed an evidence bag, placing it in the bag and marking the tank number on it. She moved to the other tank and repeated the process.

She grabbed her stuff and headed back to the main floor. She stopped short of the front door. "He needs to know this," she thought. She went back to her apartment and placed the bag in the apartment. She retrieved her locksmith kit, phone, gun and wallet and headed out. After securing her front door, she ran up the stairs to Reid's door and knocks. There was no answer. She took her locksmith kit and began to pick his lock. The door finally unlocked and slowly swung open.

"Spencer?" she slowly walked inside. "Doc?" ….she surveyed her surroundings. The books that were neatly on his bookshelf were shrewd all over the floor throughout the living area and kitchen. As she moved to the back of the apartment, she noticed his phone and keys were sitting on the floor. "Reid?" she pulled her weapon. "Spencer, please sound off, I am armed." She grabs her cell and texted Hotch.

_911 at Reid's….bring the team only. Bring Tasers._

She places the phone back on her phone clip and began to move to the bathroom. Empty. She moved into the bedroom. She noticed the bed was neatly made. Before she can move to clear the closet, a pair of hands grabbed her, covering her mouth to not scream. The scent she noticed was familiar. It was Reid. He threw her into the wall, and she crashes into the floor, dropping her gun. Before she can react, he kicked away her firearm, pulled her off the floor, and pinned her into the bed. He slapped her. She was able to look at his eyes. It wasn't him. They were dark, nearly black.

"Reid…Spencer, what are you doing?"

He doesn't respond. She noticed a lamp on the nightstand. She quickly moved her legs between her body and his chest and was able to wiggle out of his grip and shoved him off of her. She grabbed the lamp as he turned to her, she swings and connected with his head, knocking him unconscious. She dropped the lamp and crumbled on the floor, tears welling in her eyes.

"Reid?" she heard Hotch's voice.

"In here!" she called.

Hotch comes into view and sees the scene before him. He sees her face slightly beginning to bruise and see's Reid's unconscious body on the floor.

"What the hell happened?"

"We have a problem."

Bethesda MD

3 Days Later

Reid begins to wake up to the sounds of a rhythmic beeping which confused the young genius, his eyes began to flutter open, but the strange lighting was hurting his head. He tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes, however he found his wrists were restrained. Through the slits of his eyes, he can see Kira asleep in the chair.

"Kira?" he croaked…. She began to stir, as she turned her head, he can see the bruise develop on her cheek bone. "Kira? Wake up." Her eyes open.

"Hi, welcome back, Reid."

"Kira? What is going on? Why am I restrained?" his panic begins to cause his heartrate to increase.

"Calm down, Reid. I will explain what happened, but you need to calm down and hear me out as to why you were needing to be restrained."

"Did I do that to you?" She stares at him. He sighs and he relaxes in the restraints. "What happened?"

"What was the last thing you remember?" she asked.

"Us discussing hanging out together for the weekend, after you left I went and drank some water, then I went to bed."

"Did you drink from the tap?" His eyes widen.

"No, Oh my God, I completely forgot. I am so sorry." Tears began to fill his eyes. "I would never…."

She raised her hand up to silence him. She explained to him about what she saw in their building, and how she came up to tell him and check on him.

"It was smart of me to text Hotchner to come to the apartment. I could have killed you, Reid. I was almost sure you would have raped or even killed me. But anyways, the tests came back on the tank to the building. It's the same drug combination as my last case, Diazepam, Albuterol, and high levels of estrogen. However there was one extra additive, steroids in the tank that leads to my apartment. Yours had the same except without the estrogen. That accounts for the heightened aggression we had. I just finished my detox yesterday."

"Why are you here then?" he asked, rather shocked that she is.

"Because I know, as well as the rest of the team, it wasn't you acting those things out. The lamp I used to hit you knocked you out for a few days. It was good to have you detoxed before you came out. The doctors will be here soon to check on you. I have to head out to give a report on the case."

"What case?" he inquired.

"Someone poisoned two FBI agents in the same apartment building over the course of two months. I don't find that as a coincidence." She stands and leans into his ear. "I am afraid that this may be a case of bioterrorism like before." He nods at her conclusion. He took in her scent. "The Unsub is obviously resourceful, calculating, and very well oriented in Civil Engineering to figure out which tanks lead to which apartments." She pulled back. "I got to go." She backs away. "Rain check on the Lord of the Rings marathon?" He smiles. "Thought so. Get better soon, Doc!" She winks before leaving.

**AN: This was a fun one to write for me. The delivery system that is mentioned here is what was used in the X-Files Season Two Finale episode, Anasazi. I believe the science behind it is pretty legitimate. It is interesting to see how this will affect their working relationship. Stay Tuned.**


	6. Cashing In Rain Check

Cashing In Rain Check

One Week Later

After Kira submitted her report about her incident with Reid, Hotch placed her on leave in order to recover and address any psychological issues that she needed to address. She spent the first couple days at home working on making sure the water supply to her apartment was safe for consumption. She did the same for Reid to make sure there were no issues when he came out of the hospital. However, after the third day, she still wasn't sleeping. She called her friend Mulder, who was a Psychologist and they were discussing things over lunch while waiting for Dana.

"Looks like the same people that drugged me a while back." Mulder revealed.

"What was the chemicals?" Kira asked.

"A form of dopamine and possible LSD." He answered.

"Hmm…." Her gaze fell from his eyes.

"Are you having the dreams again?" she didn't have to answer him.

"I think you might have to bring it up with your team, especially if another member of the unit was severely affected. I suggest you don't hold anything back. You said yourself you trust your unit chief."

"Yeah, you are right Mulder. The thing is though," she leans forward. "I think I am kind of crushing on Dr. Reid. It's crazy right? I just don't know if it was the drugs and if the feeling is mutual or…."

"Kira," Mulder folded his hands together over hers. "Calm down, and let me tell you something. Ever since Scully was assigned to me, there was bets going all around the Bureau on when we would screw each other's brains out." She laughed. "We respected the policy for as long as we could, but when you spend day in and day out on the road with someone, whom you can only trust, it definitely brings things into a whole new light. After the case with you, we were tired of hiding our feelings and we did something about it. We walked away from our life's work. Hardest thing to do but the most rewarding in the end. When the time is right, you will know what to do." Her phone buzzes and she looks at it.

"Crap, I have to go to the doctor's office for a follow up. Give Dana my hello?"

He smiled that gorgeous smile of his. "Of course," he stands up. "Bring it in, kiddo," he brings her into a hug, "you still like a daughter to us, you know that?" She smiled.

"Thanks, Dad," she says with a snicker. "Chat at you later."

"See ya!" they paid and left the café.

She headed to the doctor and was given a clean bill of health, that physically she was cleared to get back to work. When she called Hotch to give him the news, he wanted her to take an extra week since there wasn't anything pressing at the time. He informed her that Reid was released and asked that she look in on him, which she agreed.

As she was leaving the doctor's office, she sent Reid a text message.

_Hey, want to cash in on the rain check?_

She began walking to the metro station when she felt her hip buzz. She pulled up the phone, and smiled.

_Sure, but I regret to inform you that during the incident, my Lord of the Rings DVD's were destroyed._

"Awwww," she thought. She contemplated on how to conduct the evening. It came to her.

_I was thinking more of take out, and just talk. If we decide to watch a movie after, then that's what we can do._

She had an ear to ear Cheshire grin as soon as she sent the message. When she got off at her stop on the Metro, she felt her phone buzz again.

_I guess that shouldn't be a problem._

She smiles as she sees his response. "Awkward," she thought. She makes it into her apartment, and begins to turn on her music, shoots him one final message, while she gets out of her attire.

_Just got home and getting a shower. Dress comfortable for when you come down. Think about what you want to eat. Will text when ready and finished._

She had just finished undressing when she hears her phone buzz. She wraps herself in a towel and picks up the phone.

_Dinner is on me, chicken lo mein for you?_

"Garcia, you tattle tale!" She laughs and responds.

_It's lovely, thanks. I'm jumping in the shower now. Will text when I am dressed._ Send. She removes her towel and moved into the shower, taking solace in the cascading waters down her bruised body.

Reid was looking through his closet for something to wear after his shower. He took note of her casual status and attire. He moved to his drawers and found a pair of sweatpants from his days at the Academy, and a black t-shirt he threw on. His phone buzzed as soon as he finished getting dressed.

_Just finished the shower and dressed. Feel free to come whenever._

As soon as he read the text, there was a knock at his door. "Right on time!" he thought. He paid for the food, grabbing his wallet, keys and phone, he locked up and headed downstairs. He reaches her door and knocks. He hears the music on the other side of the door get turned down, and the door opened.

"Hey Spencer," she smiled. Her black t-shirt had a few wet spots from her wet hair hung on her shoulders. Her basketball shorts long and ended at her knees and barefoot, her toenails purple from a recent spa trip.

He holds the bag up. "Food's here!" He stepped inside and sees all the colors of pink and purple hues. "Wow, nice place!" he hands her the food and she takes it into the kitchen to retrieve forks and plates. "Thanks," she responds. "Hotchner mentioned that it screams 'Garcia!" she giggles.

"You got that right!" She fixes their respective plates and brings them into the living room and sits them on the coffee table. "Wine, coke, pepsi, Saline IV? " (AN: That line was from the _**X-Files : Fight The Future**_ movie minus the wine option.) Reid sits down on the couch. "Coke is fine." She retrieves a coke from the fridge, and she fixes herself a glass of wine. She brings over the drinks and sits them on the table. She sits next to him, and he turned to say something, but he noticed that she was in prayer, blessing the food silently. After a moment, she picked up her fork and begins to situate her food. "This smells delicious! Thank you, Spencer." She takes a bite, a slight moan of satisfaction escapes her throat.

"That good huh?" he takes a bite of his own food. She nods.

"Yes, very much so." She continues to eat.

"It was the least I can do for what happened….."

She looked at him. "Spencer, you do not need to blame yourself. We figured out you were drugged constantly for at least 2 months when you weren't away."

"But you were right, we could have killed each other. I don't think I could have lived with myself."

"Spencer, let me tell you something. We all make mistakes and at times it is beyond our own control. You were unknowingly subjected to the concoction in the water. As was I, and while I was on my last case. But I will say this, I am kind of in a way glad this happened."

"What do you mean?" she takes her final bite and pushed the plate back.

"Between the effects of the drugs during my last case and here, it is giving me the courage to face my past that I have ran from for years….Um….it's a tough thing to discuss with anyone about my past. I am a recovering drug addict from my teenage years. It was a rough few years. What helped me was that an angel came into my life by the name of Aaron Hotchner. He was the prosecuting attorney for my case, and he had me make a promise, to get clean and sober, do well in school and maybe one day, I can help people like he helped me. I did, gave my life over to Christ, and here I am 15 years later."

His eyes give her a deer in the headlight look. "I felt lead to tell you the story, since honestly, you weren't around for the formal introductions, and better from the source right?"

He nods. "Something else," she began. "I was going to tell the team this when I went back to work, as was suggested by a good friend, but I haven't been sleeping consistently for a while, mostly due to nightmares. I started having flashbacks recently about some dreams that I was having while exposed to the chemicals. It made the brain believe what was happening in the dreams it was real and the bruises, cuts, were manifesting themselves on me. It happened to the other female agent, but until this stuff metabolizes out of my system, my nights are going to be long with insomnia."

He looked at her with sad eyes. "Well," he began. "We can have a couple marathons, or we can read, listen to music. Whatever you want to do…I'm finding it hard to sleep myself, so why not be bored together right?" She smiled at his logic. "Did you know…" he was cut off by her fingers touching his lips. "Spencer, my brain won't process statistics like yours can." The contact of her soft fingers to his lips lingered for a few seconds.

"How about we listen to music, and you read to me?" He was a little off guarded by her request.

"S….suggestions?" she smiled and she stood up. She grabs her and Reid's plates and puts them in the sink, and the leftovers in the fridge. She padded to the back room and emerged with a book. "**_Chronicles of Narnia_**" by C.S. Lewis. She placed a CD in the player and hit play. It was a Celtic instrumental CD, which was soft. She handed him the book and sits next to him. He began reading the text allowed, and about 30 minutes in, she scooted closer to him, not long after, he looked over to her and she is asleep against him, her arms snaked around his waist. "How did I not notice this?" he thought to himself. He looked down at her, and noticed the peace and serenity in her face. He shifted to see if he could get her to where he can carry her to her room, but his movements caused her to have a tighter grip on him, her face against his chest.

He contemplated waking her up but didn't want to rob her of such peaceful slumber. He maneuvered himself where he was lying flat on his back, and she naturally, snuggled against him, her ear to his heart. There was a fake mink blanket on the top of the couch, which he pulled down around them. He tucked the blanket around them. Upon moving a stray strand of hair behind her ear, he too, tucked his unruly locks behind his own, and slipped into a peaceful slumber himself.

****AN: I know this was long, but it was coming eventually…let's see what's up with the morning after. Signing off for the night.****


	7. The Morning After

The Morning After

4 AM

Like clockwork, Kira's eyes begin to flutter open. She felt disoriented and looked where she was. She was in the living room, the lights were still on and the music was still playing. She placed her hand on what she thought was the couch but got something completely different. She lifted her head to see a sleeping Reid underneath her. She noticed his attire was the same as last night as was her. "I seriously fell asleep on him." She chuckled the thought in her head. He looked peaceful and content. Their legs were tangled together, his morning erection poking her abdomen, and his hand autonomously rubbing the small of her back, the other cradling her other hand. She smiled at the situation they are in.

She didn't want to wake him out of such peaceful sleep, but she needed to move to her own bed to spread out, not that laying on the couch with Reid wasn't nice, but logically two people on one couch is not the most comfortable thing in the world. She used her free hand and lightly grazed his chin. His eyes begin to wake up, and he looked down at her. Her grin eased his panic. "What….what time is it?" He wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"My internal clock says 4 AM. My body wakes me up at that time every day whether I am working or not. I don't even know why I have an alarm." She giggled. He shy grinned. "Um…."she rested her chin on his chest, "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you like that. I'm sure you tried to leave me be and my body wouldn't let you." His eyes show her how he was in thought.

"It doesn't happen to me at all, but I will admit, it felt nice to be able to hold someone like this that is alive." She remembered his erection poking her stomach earlier.

"Yeah, your body told me that earlier." She giggled as his face begins to blush. "It's ok, Spencer. It's perfectly natural. But I do need to get up. I don't feel like getting out and about this morning, but I know I need to go to Mass this morning." He nods and hold perfectly still while she removes the blanket and maneuvers off of him to where she doesn't make his erection bothersome. He sits up and rubs his face. He eyes her as she stretches, her shirt raises a little revealing the slightly bruised abs from one of her nightmares.

"What is that?" he points to her stomach.

"I mentioned how my dreams happened and my injuries in the dreams manifest themselves because of the drugs." She bites her lower lip.

"Any other injuries?" Her eyes look at one of her end tables that had an envelope sitting on it. She walked over and opened it up. She removes a stack of photos.

I uh….did a sleep study after I got home from my case. Some of these pictures were taken before the sleep study. Throughout, I was strapped to the bed to remove any external factors and was videotaped during my night terrors. The rest of the photos here were taken when I woke up. No external factors were recorded on the film." She hands him the photos. He admitted to himself in his head that she is a very fit and beautiful woman. A few pictures in, he reaches the morning after pictures. He dropped them. "Oh my God!" He exclaimed. "Does Hotch know about this?"

She sighed. "Well I wasn't allowed to discuss it because of the classification of the case. It's why I went to lunch with one of the agents I was undercover with to decide what to do. He suggested that I tell the team, as it may affect them, especially us, with the exposure we were subjected to. I felt you needed to be the first to know, then we can bring it forth to the team. He is working on de-classifying the case so that I can tell them what is really going on."

"Which is?" he questioned.

"I'm waiting on a few other things to make sure I have a clear picture myself. The other agent is a pathologist, and she had been working on some of the labs from our apartments and that case in between her lectures."

He nods in understanding. "Did you have any nightmares last night that you recall?" she shakes her head no.

He didn't know what else to say. "Um, I think I should head upstairs and get cleaned up." She nods.

"Yeah, me too. I uh….want to say Thank you."

"What for?"

"For being you, for being a gentleman, even though I wasn't necessarily a lady in the situation last night."

"No need to apologize. I enjoyed myself last night, even the narcolepsy moment. I want to thank you for not being scared of me as I almost hurt you. "

She nods in understanding. "I need to get cleaned up, and dressed for Mass. Feel free to come back by anytime."

Her phone begins to buzz. She sighs while picking up her phone. She looks at her phone, as Reid's began to buzz as well.

She shakes her head. "Time to go?"

He flashes his phone. "Yeah. It is."

"Go get dressed and grab your go bag. I'll give you a lift."

He nods and heads to the door. "10 minutes?"

"Yeah." She responds.

"See you then." He heads out the door and she heads back to her bedroom into the closet. She grabs her go bag, and weapons case and places them by the door. She heads back into the bedroom and threw on her jeans and polo shirt and boots. She grabs her jacket and heads to the door as she holsters her firearm and cuffs. She hears a knock at the door. It was Reid, they load up her car and head into the BAU. Wondering what horrors lie ahead and where they are headed.


	8. The Profile

The Profile

The team, including Garcia, was to embark to Greenville, SC to track down an Unsub who committed four women between the heights of 5'0" and 5'3" all red-heads, green eyes and fair complexions. All of them were raped, stabbed, and left in their vehicles in their garages. On the jet, Kira was sitting in one of the seats on her own reading over the case file. She had her headphones on and engrossed in the file until she feels like she is being stared at. She looked up from the file and it was Hotch. She flipped her earphones off.

"Something grinding your gears boss?" She closes the file.

"I'm just wondering if this case will be a bit troublesome with the victims look very similar to you. I know you are fully capable of handling yourself, but I would feel better that you and the other girls be paired off with one of the guys, so that we don't worry about one of you on your own."

She nods. "Hotchner, you know I am all about the battle buddy system."

"I know, I am thinking of pairing you with Reid, it seems you two trust each other."

"Yeah, trust is hard to come by anymore."

"I may need you two to interrogate the suspects when we narrow down the profile. This Unsub seems to like redheads and OCD, so you and Reid would be the best to get him….."

"Or her…."

"What do you mean?"

She moves next to him pulling the pictures in view. "I see there is hardly a mess in the vehicles or inside the house, which to me means, that it may possibly be a woman that is a neat freak and OCD, or they were killed somewhere else. The women were stabbed in the heart, however, there's barely blood on the clothes they were wearing, which this is telling me their clothes were changed post-mortem, placed in the cars, hair and make-up pristine for a dead person. The clothes are fashionable and matched well. If I know any better, I say a cosmetologist or someone with that sort of training, maybe ended up as a housewife. If it were a man, definitely with the cosmetology training, but maybe gay or metrosexual."

As she looks at Hotch, she notices six other sets of eyes staring at her. "What?"

Morgan speaks up. "I know you got more, short stuff?"

"If he were metrosexual, then either his significant other whom is a redhead may be the trigger, possibly left him for someone else. "

Morgan looks at Garcia "Mama, I need you to look at cosmetologist in the area that may have left the business. Dig into their lives, sexual preferences, anything connecting them to redheads…."

Kira spoke up, "Garcia. add funeral parlors to your employment searches. The bodies look very pristine, because you need special techniques to apply to hair and make-up."

Hotch looks at his phone, and begins to groan in agitation.

"Guys, I was discussing with Stansen about the complex case this is, especially aiming at women. I am instituting a battle buddy system for this case. Girls, you will be partnered with a male member of the team. They will also be your room mate because the hotel just informed me that they are short on rooms and can only give us four rooms. Reid, you and Stansen are partnered up. Rossi, you have Emily, JJ with me, and Morgan, you and Garcia." Reid and Kira look at each other.

Rossi, JJ, and Emily all shook their heads.

"Is that a problem Agents?"

Kira looks at Hotch. "No Sir, the rooms are two doubles, so we are good."

"Alright, we land in about an hour. Rest up, because we'll be hitting the ground running." Hotch pats her shoulder.

"Yes sir." She leans against the wall of the aircraft and tried to take a nap before she steps into a rough situation.

At the police station, Reid and Kira didn't waste any time getting to work to narrowing down the geographical profile. They narrowed it down to a 5 mile radius, they delivered the profile with the parameters that was discussed on the flight. Garcia narrowed down the list of suspects to four. Two men and two women. After the alibis of the two women and one of the men checked out, Kira and Reid was at the hotel grabbing a quick shower and change of clothes when she gets a call from Hotch.

"Stansen?"

"Hey Stansen, have you finished getting cleaned up?"

"Waiting for Reid to get out of the shower why?"

"Upon first observation, it seems to me this guy is a 'less is more' kind of guy."

"I see…"

"You bring any form fitting attire?"

"You owe me."

"One night as DD good enough?"

"Music to my ears, Boss! See you in a few!" They hang up.

Reid exited the bathroom dressed, his hair is still slightly wet, but was beginning to naturally curl.

"Us interrogating the Unsub is going to be interesting…." She tosses her phone on the bed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When you see what Hotchner is having me do, you will see."

She grabs her clothes and heads into the bathroom. Reid decided to take a quick nap while she got cleaned up. 15 minutes later, he feels a hand graze his cheek. He opened his eyes and the sight before him took his breath away. Kira was standing over him, her hair was still wet, she had a tight white tank top, her black push up bra making her shirt see thru. She wore black tight black skinny pants, and black combat boots. Her make-up is very subtle and feminine.

"Get your kicks on genius!" She walked over to the mirror and begins to put her hair in a bun. By the time she finishes, they were out the door and headed down the station, unaware of a set of eyes following them out as well.

**AN OK, this is getting good…stay tuned for the interrogation and an extra.**


	9. The Interrogation

The Interrogation

Reid and Kira arrived back at the station. They headed to the back of the station where the rest of the team was preparing for the interrogation of their suspect, Jamison Deaken. Kira tapped JJ's shoulder, whispering something in her ear. JJ nodded and walked out of the room, and Kira turned the thermostat up in the interrogation room. JJ came back a few minutes later with a pitcher of ice water, a few cups, and a suit jacket. Kira puts on the suit jacket. It was tight on her figure as her bust filled in nicely in her opinion. She put the file on the table outside the door. She looks at Reid. "Leave this here for now." He nods. They observed the man in the room, he was 5'6" medium build, dark hair and dark eyes. Sweat began to form on his lightly tanned skin.

"Be careful with his mood swings, Kira. If we see something, we will let you know what you may try if you haven't picked up on it through the headset." Hotch reminds her.

She nods and looks at Reid. "You ready, genius?"

He nodded and they grabbed the water and the cups and go inside.

"Mr. Deaken? I am Special Agent Stansen, this is Dr. Spencer Reid. Sorry for the wait…..good Lord this room is warm." She poured the water in two of the cups. "Would you like some water?" He takes the remaining empty cup and pours the water in the cup. She takes a few sips from her own cup. "God this room is too hot for this thing." She removed the jacket and drapes it on the back of the chair. Deaken stirred a little. As she sat down she looked at the table, she looked at Reid. "Do you have the file?"

Reid looked at her. "I thought you had it with you." She rolled her eyes.

"I will get it." She stands up and moves to the door. The team on the otherside of the window, noticed how he stared at her as she moved away. She stepped out of the room. Hotch looked at her and mouthed the words. "Push hard." She nods in understanding while she grabs the files, and walked back in. "My apologies, it's not like me to come in without what I need." She sits down and places the files on the table. She maneuvers her elbows on the table to accent her bust to be more noticeable. He continues to shift in his seat. Re

"So Mr. Deaken, you are a certified cosmetologist?" she began.

"I am. Did it for five years." She grabs a file and looked at it.

"It says here you graduated in the top percentile compared to your female counterparts, but you only did this for five years? Awful lot of training and money put away to not do it anymore after five years"

"Times are hard. Had to look at other career venues."

"Such as?" Reid chimed in.

"I inherited the Shady Pines Funeral Home from my mother…thought I would try to keep the business afloat. They need a hairdresser don't they?" He looked at her, and Reid notices his eyes weren't on her face.

She nods. "Yeah, it's a logical thing. You have a wife, right?" He quickly shakes his head no. She leans forward, her tank clad breasts emerge through, and he shifts in his seat again, taking another drink of water. She took notice. "What's the matter? A little too hot for you?" He stays silent and adjusts in his chair. "Not really…..So, what about you, do you guys have a significant other?" She responds with a smirk. "Not really…" Reid and Kira hear Morgan in their earpieces, "Kira, Hotch wants you to flirt with Reid in front of him."

Reid turns to look at her as she leans back in her chair, pulling down her hair out of her bun. "Mmmmm that feels much better." She stands trailing her hand to the back of his head, to the nape of his neck. Both she and the suspect noticed his reaction. He licked his lips. "So, can you tell us where you were a couple nights ago?"

"At the funeral home until about 8:30, then home the rest of the night. Alone."

"Sure you were," her nails continued to graze the back of Reid's neck, his body fighting for control. "We happened to…." She close her eyes and removed her hand from the back of Reid's head to her neck. "….pull the security footage from the funeral home, and it showed you leaving around 7 PM….. "she pulled photos of him from a security footage and another of him getting into his car. "That's you, and that is your car. Now fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the latest victim, had security cameras as well." She pulled a few more photos, of the same vehicle backing into the driveway. "Our tech analyst was able to pull the image of your plates and physical damage to compare. This is your car. Time stamped 7:15 PM" She shows him the next photo of a person getting out on the passenger side of the car, in a ski mask. "Now this boggles me. So this tells me, there was a second suspect, wouldn't you say so?" He remained silent. She begins to walk around the room. "Now, judging by the pictures, it looks like a woman. So my next theory is, she killed these women, however, you dressed them, made them up and staged them in their cars. It tells me, you at least respect these women in death more than life, so I want to ask you this question and you think long…." She takes in a deep breath "and hard…" She moved behind the Unsub grazing her fingers across his shoulders. He flinched and she looked at Reid, his eyes locked on her and his jaw clenched. They both hear Hotch tell Reid to relax, he noticed his tension and relaxed his jaw and posture slightly.

"Because I don't think you would want to go down 100% for the majority of her crimes. Maybe we can talk to the prosecutor."

The unsub thought about it for a moment. "She left me….last night….."

"Where?" Reid asked.

"I don't know, she left on a bus to Georgia, but I have no idea where she is going as far as her final destination." A thought struck Kira.

"Was she a red head? I need a name." Kira asked.

"No, Brunette, but she did dye it recently to an Auburn. Her name is Sandra Dejon." He answered.

Reid stands up and knocks on the door, and a deputy walks in to secure the Unsub.

"Thank you, and in the meantime, you are under arrest for the murders of Scarlett Jones, Maurita Lawson, Sierra Jenson, and Sarah O'Connell." They began to read him his rights as Reid and she exited the interrogation room. The team followed them into another office, she sat across the room from Reid.

Hotch entered first with the rest of the team and closed the door. "I'm sorry that was uncomfortable for you two….but at least we have him on accessory charges until we find his partner."

Kira spoke up. "I do not think she left town."

JJ speaks up. "Why do you say that?"

She sighs. "I think I know why she did it too. He has a thing for redheads, and she caught him looking at one too many of them. Got jealous, I think he went with her to either stop her, talk her down, or if he was unsuccessful, he at least took his duties as a mortician serious enough to give a lasting impression in death, he is more of a caretaker. If she was so jealous of him cheating, she probably wouldn't stick around. But because now we have him, she isn't going anywhere."

Rossi pipes up, "Then if all he is doing is dressing them and essentially taking care of them, how do you explain the sexual assault?"

Kira shrugs. "Must be using objects that are nearby, pipes whatever. The coroners didn't find any fluids but found spermicide, so she may be using the condoms to disguise the object used. Pretty sick."

"Alright guys, the rest of you should head back to the hotel and get some shut eye for now," ….

"in addition to a cold shower!" Reid and Kira said at the same time. They hear Garcia snicker.

"Good idea too. JJ and I will be here to talk to the Police Chief and see where we go from here, since we know who she is and already one in custody."

Everyone filed out, however Morgan and Garcia remained with Hotch and JJ to pack up her computer gear, and to give them a ride back to the motel. Kira and Reid was mentally and physically spent. It was one thing for Kira to know how to get under an Unsubs skin, it's another to flirt with her own co-worker, that both know full and well they are attracted to one another. Reid climbed in the backseat of the car, and Kira scooted next to him. Emily got in the driver's seat and Rossi got into the passenger seat. Rossi speaks up.

"You guys did a great job in there, excellent performance."

"No kidding…." Emily concurred hiding her smile and Reid stayed silent.

"Hotchner is going to have one expensive bar tab when we get home." Kira said flatly. "I am not a fan of flirting with the suspect. Makes my skin crawl, especially knowing what they did."

They pulled into the motel and went to their respective rooms. Kira plopped face first on her bed. "You go first, I'll get mine in the morning. I'm too tired to barely change my clothes, let alone get a shower." He silently went into the bathroom, taking the coldest shower he could tolerate. When he came back out, Kira was already under the covers, sound asleep. He walked over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. He crawls under the covers of his own bed. As the light of the hotel room, goes out, the same pair of eyes look on.

**AN: This took me a little less time than expected today. I hope I did it well. Let me know what you thought. For the record, a lot of what is going on with Reid and Kira is pretty much mirroring the relationship that Mulder and Scully had in the X-Files, so I am using that dynamic to construct their relationship, but it will come more sooner than the 7 years it took M and S to get their feelings out there. I hope it makes sense. Next Chapter, One Down, One To Go.**


	10. An Awkward Conversation

An Awkward Conversation

**She broke loose from his grip and was able to push him off her with her legs. She backs away staring at him, reading him, preparing her next move. The maniacal grin returned, however, he was shocked to see her return a similar grin, almost daring him to try again. He lunged for her, and a brief moment it went white. The scent of blood as well as the taste takes over. She stops and looks down, seeing him lifeless on the floor, with blood on her hands, she screams in anger and terror.**

**Another point of view brought her back to that moment. As she steps back and stares at him, her facial expressions mirrored his own. She stood in wait, confident in her ability to defend herself. He lunged for her; however, he missed her, providing her the opportunity to swing behind him. Her small framed arms reached around his head. In a split move, she snapped his head around so hard, his head fell to the floor, rolling under her bed. **

"KIRA WAKE UP!" Reid was screaming at her, holding on to her to keep her from thrashing even worse. Her eyes shoot open, screaming, "No No No No!" Her breathing hard and panting, the room was still dark, sweat soaking her sheets and clothes. She looked around her surroundings, Reid securely holding on to her wrists. "Spencer?"

"Yeah, I am here." His face filled with worry.

"What…what time is it?"

"11 PM." His grip on her has not let up.

"I'm…I need to go into the bathroom." He lets go of her and helps her to her feet. She grabs a change of clothes and head into the bathroom. He can hear her turn on the shower, then her coughing. Reid walked over to the door and lightly knocks. "Kira, are you alright?" He can hear her grunt. "I uh.."she began. "I'm going to shower." He swallowed hard, "Ok. I am out here if you need to talk." He heads back to the bed and grabs his phone, and texts Hotch.

_Hotch, are you awake?_

A few seconds later, he hears his phone beep.

_For now, what is going on?_

He was hesitant to answering the question, but he went on ahead and did so since he initiated.

_I just had to wake Stansen out of a horrific nightmare. She is in the bathroom showering off right now. I think she got nauseous too. She and her bed were soaked in sweat. _

A few minutes later, Kira came out in a pair of shorts and tank top just as Hotch texted back.

_Keep an eye on her, we fly out tomorrow at noon. If she feels like talking, give her the chance to do so. Anything you guys need, don't hesitate to call. See you tomorrow._

"What's up?" she asked as she sat on the foot of her bed.

"We fly back to Quantico at noon tomorrow. I was reading the text Hotch sent."

"You texted him first huh?" She asked, his lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed.

"He knows already….he had to deal with my PTSD before…." She runs her hand through some of her wet locks.

"Right before Hotchner was assigned to my unit, there was an incident. We uh….were a unit predominately male. So female agents in Tent City are exceedingly rare. You get harassed on a daily basis. Even what society would consider ugly looks like a million bucks. Another agent that I was assigned to was a little touchy feely, and I told him to back off. Eventually, he snapped and attacked me. It almost lead to rape, but luckily I was able to injure him where he couldn't perform. It infuriated him, he proceeded to beat the hell out of me. I uh suffered nerve damage in areas where pain doesn't register, but the injuries were pretty bad, and painful regardless. When Hotchner showed up, he recognized me as the very teenager he encouraged to get clean and not only, he nabbed the Son of a Bitch, but he requested I work under him. I trusted him enough that he wouldn't allow anything to happen to me. He helped me through my PTSD, recommended councilors, talked to me and hung out with me. He treated me like an equal but cared for me like a daughter. That kept me going."

Reid had tears well up in his ears. "I uh, don't know what to say. I know usually if you were a total stranger I would spout off statistics and probabilities of the effects of PTSD…..I can't do that to you because I am reasonably sure you are aware." She nods.

"I uh….I was too tired to really talk about earlier, but….." He held his hands up to stop her.

"You don't have to say anything, I understand…."

"No, Spencer Reid, you don't…." she bit her lower lip. "I do like you, a lot, you are kind, sweet, funny, you actually make me feel safe. When I was told to flirt with you, deep down, it wasn't an act. But when I had to flirt with the Unsub, and I saw your body language, I felt sick, and I knew you were upset or getting protective. I guess what I want to know is, what you feel or….." she takes a ragged breath. "What do you think of all of that I have told you?" She looked to hold her breathe as he thought of his answer.

"I…as you can figure out, I am not exactly experienced with women, and the experiences I had were not so positive…" his lips were wavering to say more, but the sound wasn't coming out.

"Oh," she looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"I'm not gay, Kira, it's just I find it just as hard for me to trust women that aren't mother figures or co-workers as you find it hard to trust men that aren't father figures or co-workers. It's a matter of finding the right one. This job consumes your life, I'm 32 and this job is all I know. I've seen what it did to Hotch and his family, as you probably already know. I'm sure JJ and Will nearly split a couple times, and they have my godson, Henry, who I adore and would do anything for. I'm sure military relationships are like that too." He takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, it's just a matter of making it work around deployments, this job may take you out of town often for about a week on average, but some of us are gone for up to a year. It sucks. Hotchner, got a dose of it for four months. I was there for nearly six years off and on. But it's why I came to this job, that in the end, I have a place to call my own, friends to call my family, and maybe meet someone who is much like me. Who understands what we do, and begin a family of my own." She looks at her phone. Midnight. "We need to get back to sleep. My body is fighting me to go back to sleep." He nods and stands up and moves to his messenger bag. He grabs a book out and lays it on the bed. He moves to her and takes her hands and leads her to his bed. She looked at him questioningly.

"I'm going to watch over you at least until you fall asleep, and I am going to guess your bed won't be comfortable as it is soaked in sweat right now." Without a word she gets in and scoots over to the other side to let him into bed. She settles in, looking at him. As he settled in, he put his glasses on his face and opened his book, and began to read, however he voice quickly halts his progress.

"You didn't exactly answer my question….how do you feel about….me?" He looks at her. "What? It's a fair question. I told you…." Then it hit her. "Oh, if you didn't like me, you wouldn't have let me in your bed. I got it. Please continue…." He smiled and began to read aloud to her. "By the way, " she said. "Those glasses suit you." Within 15 minutes of her reading, she was out again, and she stirred with her back to him. Sleep threatened his eyes again. He took the glasses off and placed them on top of his book on the nightstand. He shut off the light. He laid on his back at first, but her words began to fill his head.

"…_..you make me feel safe." _

He turned his head to her sleeping form. He thought about her words, he felt the same as sh. He felt safe around her. He was surprised she would even speak to him after he attacked her. But he was reassured that she knew it wasn't him. In his head, he couldn't help but see her beauty, her strength, her intelligence.

He slowly turned on his side, slowly placed his hand on her waist, reluctantly pulling himself closer to her, but was surprised she responded by adjusting and slide her back against his chest. His face was centimeters from her head, his breathing on her neck, which brought gooseflesh on her arms. He snuggled his face into the nape of her neck, taking in her scent, and lulling himself in the safety of his own peaceful slumber.

****AN**** I had to push the One Down, One To Go chapter back another chapter because I needed this conversation to be had before moving on to the next part of the story. I hope you enjoy. For the record, no sex….at the present time and location.******


	11. One Down, One To Go

One Down, One to Go

The curtains were partially spaced letting in the rising sunlight. The offending light danced upon Kira's face as she began to stir. She opened one eye, seeing the long, slender neck of Spencer Reid, her lips a couple centimeters from contact. Only moving her eyes and using her sense of feel, she sees him peacefully asleep her right hand in his left, fingers entwined, positioned her arm across his torso, her other arm wrapped his other one, and her leg draped over his. She smiled as she nuzzled her face further into his neck. He begins to stir, and she closes her eyes to pretend she was still asleep.

"I know you are awake, Kira." Reid states, sleepily.

"I was debating whether or not to move." She bites her lower lip, looking at his.

"I take it you didn't want to?"

"Wouldn't you if you were too comfortable, in the position we are in?...Besides, I don't think I would have been able to move without waking you anyhow."

"True…true…." Rather than releasing her hand, he intertwines his fingers with hers. "I just um…..realized something last night going into this morning…"

"You enjoy this…..just having the ability to wake up next to someone…."

He nods. "Do you?"

"I do. I uh, slept much better than I had in ages actually. It's exceedingly rare that happens." Her free hand grazes his arm.

"I'm just nervous about relationships, I guess, especially with the FBI's policy of interpersonal relationsh…." She placed a finger on his lip.

"While you may be right about the policy, if anything, the policy is in place to prevent agents from cheating on their spouses or higher ranking agents taking advantage of junior agents. While technically I am a junior agent by FBI standards, but my prior federal service still gives me a level footing with you. Besides, you asked me on a date before I even came into the FBI, and I have suspicions Hotchner meant to fix us up anyways…" she smiled, before continuing… "Garcia was right…"

"For what?" he asked.

"We are a lot alike….scarily so." They laugh.

She places her hand on his chest. "Ok genius, I think we should get ready to go since check out is 10 and its 8:15 right now."

"Ugh…do I have to?" he smiled.

"I want my beer tab that Hotchner owes us…."

"Are you still mad at that?"

"No. But he doesn't know that now does he?"

"He's a profiler, what do you think?"

"Let him figure it out."

She carefully untangled herself from him and heads to the bathroom. Reid began to undress to throw on his travel clothes. As he does, a flashback from the night before hits him.

_2 AM_

_He awakes as his body stirs. His arousal brushes against her lower back, his eyes flutter open in surprise at his body's reaction. His mind raced to figure out how to move, not wake her up, and still maintain contact. Surprisingly in her sleep, she had his hand in hers and brought his arm to wrap around her, bringing him closer to her body. His lips graze the base of her neck, his blood is rushing._

Back to Reality

He hears the water in the shower turn off, and it snaps him out of his dream, he looks down and realizes he got excited again. He went into his go bag and grabbed clothes to change into. A few minutes later, Kira emerges in her t-shirt and jeans. "I uh decided to take a shower too…."he carries his clothes in front of his waist to hide his erection. "It'll be a minute." As he moves past her, she placed her hand on his arm. "Spencer?" he looked at her.

"You don't have to hide from me….don't be embarrassed. I think it's sexy at how you…" her eyes trail down, "react to me." Reid blushes as he shuts the door, his face and chest beginning to heat up. "Cold….shower…."he thought. He turns on the water for his second cold shower in nearly 24 hours.

As Spencer was getting ready, she walked over to her iPhone to check the itinerary, however, he phone began to buzz with the word "Private" on the caller ID. She grabbed her digital recorder out of her bag and pressed record before she answered. "Stansen?"

"I hear you are looking for me, Agent Stansen?" a woman's low voice sounds off.

"Hello Sandra…" she says fighting a grin.

"So sorry we didn't meet while I was working…"

"And what sort of work is that?" she grabs Reid's phone and types '911 she is on my phone-Kira' and sends out to the team.

"You see, I never was like this…"

"I understand you were jealous of the redheads your man was eyeballing…" she texted Garcia from Reid's phone 'Trace the call from my phone.-Kira'

"Yeah, you got that right…..I was sick of it!"

"Then why kill them? Why not just leave him?" Reid's phone lights up a message from Garcia. 'She's in the hotel, the team is going door-to-door, stay put.' Kira puts her firearm on her hip.

"He is mine, he doesn't belong to anyone else!" Kira hears Reid come out of the bathroom and she turns to him with her finger to her lips, he nods in understanding. "By the way, KIRA, how did you sleep last night? I'm sure your screaming woke up the whole hotel." Realization hit both Reid and Kira, as he types to the team. 'Our room'

He hits send as they hear gunshots ringing and rounds busting through the door. A woman about 5'3", her dyed auburn hair, dark clothes entered the room. "You should have left him alone, you shouldn't have laid a hand on another woman's man." A shot rings through the hallway and Sandra falls, blood dripping from a shot to the temple. Hotch comes around the corner of the room. "Are you guys alright?"

Kira and Reid both nod. "We need to go to the police station, NOW!" Kira said. "Reid, get your game face on because we are going to get a bit rough. PG, you mind looking for her on any buses out of town, maybe train and aircraft." Garcia gives the thumbs up, as they loaded the car up.

They head to the station after the cops were securing the crime scene. Hotch requested that Deaken be moved to an interrogation room. Deaken was already there when Reid and Kira walk in. "Mr Deaken, you remember myself and Dr. Reid?"

"How can I forget?" he responds.

"Right…." She draws the blinds and moved to the video camera perched in the room, unplugging it. "There, much better so we can have a nice long chat. So, tell me, you knew she never left town. You also logged in your one phone call late last night to your "lawyer," so my guess is that you knew she would try and hunt me down for touching you if you told her. So please, Mr Deaken, set the record straight with me." She moved behind him, Reid next to her.

"I…I don't know what you are talking about." He stammered.

"Wrong answer, you son of a bitch." She grabs him and slams him on the table top. "Care to try again?"

"I still don't know what you are talking about."

"Are you familiar with a Hydra, Mr Deakon?" Reid asked, his expression flat.

Deaken shakes his head no. Kira speaks up. "Please elaborate, Dr. Reid?"

"The Hydra is a Greek mythology creature that if his head were to be cut off, three more would grow back in its place. The fables depicted stories of warriors who bravely attempted to slay the beast only fall to their own demise."

"The moral of the story is to never send an unworthy opponent on a fool's errand, which you set in motion last night. You knew that somehow, she would have walked into an ambush if you had told her."

Deaken looked up and smiled, "So what now, slut?"

Kira slaps him upside the head. "If it weren't for the fact you had her come in on an ambush, I see that as a facilitation for an additional count of murder, does that sound about accurate Dr. Reid?"

"I believe so….also accessory of attempted murder on two federal agents."

"Two?" he looked at them oddly.

Kira pulls him out of his chair and on his back. "Sharing is caring, bitch!" Kira slaps him upside the head. "I hope between now until your dying breathe that you get what you have coming to you. And believe me, where they are sending you, I know a few people, and all I need is a message…that's it, you are done."

"Which means, you sir, are about to go down for five murders among other things…..I hope you have good veins….," Reid said as they head to the door. "It would be a shame if the needle doesn't do it's job properly." They walk out to meet the others at the landing strip.

**OK I see at least one more chapter for this part in the series, maybe two. We will see what goes down.**


	12. The Deal

The Deal

When they arrived back to the BAU, the team was dropping off their reports before heading out for the day. Kira was at her desk and walked over to Reid's. "Give me your report and I will take it to Hotchner, and you can load my car up. Deal?" He grinned as he handed off his file and she hands him her keys. She headed to his office and handed him the files, she knocks in time to see Chief Strauss. "Oh, I am sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just dropping off the teams reports."

Hotch looks at Kira. "Don't worry Stansen," Chief Strauss spoke up. "We were going to talk to you before you left anyways. Please have a seat." She takes a seat, as Chief Strauss stands behind Hotch as she looks at a file. "It says you were military, in the Air Force, spent six years with their OSI, spent the whole time in the Middle East?"

"Off and on, Chief. I only came back for undercover operations. I actually knew Agent Hotchner from when he was in the Middle East."

"I see, I take it you are pretty well established and cohesive with the team."

"I would like to believe so. I can't speak for all of the team members, but I feel we have a level of trust."

Hotch speaks up. "We trust you, I was telling Chief Strauss at how well you performed in the field this last case, how your profile was spot on, and quickly adjusted the MO when needed. You are quick on your feet and have great interrogation skills. You are a great addition to the team."

"But…?" She is slightly worried.

Chief Strauss picked the conversation back up. "The FBI in the last couple weeks have been restructuring the units to allow handling case loads. Are you familiar with a unit outside the FBI mainstream known as the X-Files?"

"Yes, unsolved cases that were examined by the primary will be classified as X will be looked at by that unit, however, most of the time, people associate it with the paranormal. Unit was established by Fox Mulder, an Oxford educated psychologist, who wrote the monolith on serial killers and the occult, which helped catch Monty Propps in 1988. He was assigned a partner, Dr. Dana Scully, a medical doctor and forensic scientist. Mulder the believer, Scully the Skeptic. Opposites attract, they ran the division for roughly 10 years, returned two years ago after a 10 year hiatus, both now assigned to the Academy."

"You've done your homework." Chief Strauss was impressed.

"I was undercover with them before I left OSI and came to the FBI."

"I didn't see that in your jacket."

"That operation has been deemed classified to the highest level of intelligence. Department of Homeland Security has kept it hush-hush. I am working with those agents to declassify that operation for personal reasons."

"Which is?"

"That's a trick question that I am not allowed to answer until the formal request has been granted, and at that time I can tell you what that entails. Believe me, it is frightening. But with all due respect, enough about that, what is the point you are trying to make?"

"The BAU will be absorbing the X-Files unit. You and another agent will be working the cases and building profiles to see if there is something that was missed. However, you will not be taken off the field. These cases will be worked in-between your case loads. You will report to Agent Mulder and Dr. Scully will be handling your forensics and other items needed that is outside your scope."

"Yes ma'am. And who will my partner be?"

"I will leave that up to Agent Hotchner. I take it he will make the best decision." Kira nods at her and Hotch, before she stands. "I will leave you to it, Aaron." They stand up. "You guys don't need to stand for me."

"I was military, ma'am, it means a sign of respect for a superior officer." Strauss smiled. "As you were." She leaves.

Kira and Hotch sits down. "This is an interesting situation, Kira."

"Yeah, it is…so what are we doing about the partner situation?"

"Logically, the best person for the job honestly, is Reid."

She nods. "But, I am sure that you guys figured out we kinda like each other, after this last case."

He nods. "You can't help who you fall in love with. You have to keep work at work, personal in private. Honestly, you have shown that. Strauss is aware of it because it got back to her how we got under the Unsubs skin."

"Oh boy, someone likes to tattle." She smiles.

"Damage control."

"Yup, so is Reid your recommendation?"

"Agent Mulder and Scully dating?"

"They are now, it's why they left the X-Files to teach at the Academy. Our undercover operation had them see that part of life, so they decided to walk away from the work. I had a feeling when I stopped by his office he wanted me to take over the division."

"Would you?"

"It was Mulder's life work, he was obsessed with it. I don't know much about his reasons, but, the man was passionate. I would do it with the utmost care like I would do here."

"Go ahead and head home. You will know my decision tonight when we meet with the team. I know you are riding home with Reid, so please don't mention this to him, let me announce it to the team as a whole."

"Yes sir, see you tonight, and you are buying."

"I was hoping it would slip your mind…."

"An Irish woman forget about a free bar tab? Not a chance. See you tonight."

She headed out to her car where Reid was waiting for her. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, just had a conversation with him and Chief Strauss about my performance on the case."

"What happened?"

"You will see later tonight."

They rode the rest of the way to the apartments in silence. They both retreated to their own apartments to rest a while before they head out for an evening of drinking and being merry.

**OK a little background about this idea. I read an X-Files fanfiction novel called 12 Degrees of Separation by Paula Graves. It was wonderfully done, and that inspired me to bring this together. So that's where that came from. I believe the next chapter will be the last one for this story before I begin another one. It might be a while before I do that though. We will see. I will let you know if it will be a crossover, so that may be where you would have to look for it. **


	13. Soul Searching

Soul Searching

Kira laid in bed for about an hour and she realized she was not going to get any rest. She grabbed her hoodie and headed out down the street to the local parish. She headed inside, seeing the parish priest wiping down the pews. She dipped her fingers in the bowl of holy water before proceeding, kneeling, and signaling the cross. As she stepped forward, the older priest looked up as she approached.

"Hello Kira," he said with a smile, "lovely to see you coming."

She gave him a hug. "Good to see you, Father McCue."

"I take it you aren't here for Mass, as you are a few hours late."

"I am not Father, I wanted to come in for some prayer time, but I did want to bounce something off of you."

"Sure, have a seat." They sat down in a nearby pew. "What is on your mind, child?"

"When I left for the military, I was a broken record of sorts. I spent my entire military career, working hard to keep Satan and his dominion at bay, to right the things I wronged. I spent six years of my life chasing the demons that afflicted me so long ago. I thought I put all of it behind me until this past week." She is fighting tears at this point. "You know I transferred to the FBI's BAU, my friend Hotchner that I told you about?"

"I remember, child." He looked at her with concerned eyes.

"The team accepted me for who I was, but before I came to the BAU, I met the team when I came into town visiting, and one of them….."

"You like this person?"

"I developed a trusting relationship with him, as he is my partner. I am professional at work of course, but in private, I am myself. I can tell he is pure…very, very pure." She gagged a chuckle. "We had a discussion about it on this last case where I was put in a situation that I had to flirt with him in front of a suspect, then in turn flirt with the suspect. It was pretty uncomfortable, and his body language told me what I knew, that he did reciprocated the feelings I had. The FBI has a policy about interpersonal relationships in the FBI. I was going to request to be on another unit, until I was offered the very unit I was going to request."

"Sounds like God had it lined up for you, child."

"But they are considering partnering me with him, and still stay within the BAU. I don't know what to say, because, my whole adulthood, I have put my career ahead of my faith, my family, or potential personal happiness, for the sake of the mission. I don't know, I told them I would do it, but I am not sure about the partner situation."

"Child," Father places his hand on her shoulder, "God has a plan for you, and this potential personal and/or professional partner. Are you familiar with Jeramiah 29:11?"

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." She smiles and nods.

"Just pray for God to give you clarity in your personal and professional life, and he will guide you to your answer."

"Thank you, Father. Is it ok if I spend some time alone in prayer?"

"Sure child, let me know if you need anything." He pats her shoulder and he heads back into the back office.

She stood up and headed for the altar. She knelt before the crucifix and began to pray silently.

"Heavenly Father, I have a major choice to make….."

**I know this is short as hell, but I couldn't end this with 13 chapters, call me superstitious, but this will be wrapping up soon, but it leads to the set-up of the final chapter or two. Thanks for the love you guys.**


	14. Announcements and Decisions

Announcements and Decisions

Kira arrived to her apartment around 2 PM when her phone begins to vibrate. The caller ID revealed it was Hotch. Reluctantly thinking it was another case, she answered the phone.

"Stansen?"

"Kira, it's Hotch. How's it going?"

"Doing well sir, just came in from a run, and yourself?"

"For the most part, good. Listen, I am going to be running late because Jack's babysitter is going to be running late. I was wondering if you and Reid can meet us all at the bar?"

"Sure, I believe it is early enough to safely take the metro." She grinned.

"Oh, thank you, I promise I will be there around 8, is that fine?"

"Yeah, I planned on wanting to be there around then anyhow."

"Have you given more thought about Chief Strauss's offer?"

"I will accept it if he does, however, it will be a matter of our personal lives."

"Like I mentioned, I believe you two have the ability to keep work and play separate. Besides, it may save the FBI on a hotel room." They chuckled.

"Ok, ok, still making my decision on whether he says 'Yes' or not. To everything."

"Fair enough, and see you guys tonight."

"Bye, boss!" they both hang up.

She took a shower to wash off the travel and sweat of her workout off of her. The thoughts of the afternoon filled her head. She wondered what Reid would have decided professionally with the offer, and how it would affect him personally. She is well aware of how it would affect her on those levels, but in her mind, it was all on him. She told him how she felt about him, but was barely able to show him. As she exited the shower, Garcia called her phone.

"What is up, girly?" Kira asked off the bat.

"Nothing, I was wondering if you and boy genius is still joining us?" she sounded cheerful.

"Yes, we are meeting you guys at the bar, and Hotchner is meeting us there. Jack's babysitter is running late so he will be there later, so I'm wanting to time it when he gets there to begin our tab." She chuckles.

"So what are you wearing tonight?" a hint of conniving in her voice.

"It's for me to know and all y'all to find out. I will see you laters!"

She looked at her watch, 5 PM. She grabs her phone and texted Reid as she was getting dressed.

_Hotchner is meeting us at the bar, babysitter will be late. Want to take the metro early and eat dinner at the bar?_

She hit send and began to look through her wardrobe. She pulled out a black dress slacks and emerald green halter top. She decided since there was a ton of walking involved, she grabbed a pair of comfortable boots suitable for her clothes. She finished getting dressed and began to put on her make-up when she heard a knock at the door. She went to the door and opened the door.

She smiled seeing Reid wearing a dark purple shirt, black tie, black slacks black shoes, he had his hair cut short, in his hand he held a pink rose. "Hey you." He smiled back at her. "Hey yourself," she moved aside for him to come in. He turned to her to take another long look up and down. "Oh, this is for you." He begins to blush slightly, as he hands it to her. "You look beautiful."

She smiled at his shyness and compliment. "Thank you, you look nice yourself…..and I love your haircut. Why don't you go ahead and make yourself at home while I place this in water, and finish getting ready."

He took a seat, playing with his tie for a few minutes before she came back out. She grabbed a leather jacket out of the closet and throws her credentials and smaller caliber firearm inside the inner pockets of her jacket with an extra clip, which caught Reid's attention. "Where did you get that jacket?"

"I had it specially made from a friend of mine some time ago. Ready?"

He nods and they headed to the door, and walked to the metro, arm in arm. After dinner, they hung back and waited for the others to show up. One by one they began to show. Reid and Kira met with them and bring them over to their table. They greeted the other team members, and began to socialize. Kira spotted Hotch at the bar, bringing a four drinks to the table. "Reid, one of the beers is yours." He takes it from him, as Hotch took the second beer, he hands Kira a pinkish-orange drink, and a shorter glass with red liquid.

"Well little lady, what do you have there?" Morgan said with a smile.

She smiles as she takes a drink of the larger glass. "Sex on the deck. No place better." Reid nearly spilled his beer, and the team started snickering. She shot the contents of the second glass in one breathe. "Red snapper!"

Hotch spoke up, "Slow down, alright?" she nodded. "Should we tell him?" he eyeballs Reid, and she again nodded. That got the team's attention.

"Spencer, let's go outside and have a chat." Kira said as she takes his hand in hers. They headed to an outside deck with their drinks, with Hotch on their heels. Hotch started the conversation.

"Chief Strauss brought it to my attention that the BAU is absorbing a section outside the FBI mainstream, and it was recommended that Kira be assigned the detail." He was shocked and worried, especially, as how they just had her assigned to the unit not long ago. "These cases are an additional duty, in between our primary caseload, so she won't be taken out of the field. Here is what is interesting, they are assigning her a partner, of my choosing."

"What?" Reid asked, looking them.

"My recommendation was going to be you. You two have an established rapport, work well together." Reid's eyes lower as he looked slightly sad. Hotch came closer to them. "Because of the situation with the interrogation of the Unsub on the case, Chief Strauss is aware of the obvious attraction between you two. Depending on how you decide to proceed. I told her you two are professionals, that you have the ability of keeping work at work and home at home."

"When does she need the decision?" Reid asked.

"Monday." Hotch answered. "I gotta get back in there, another round you two?" Hotch asked.

Kira nods, "But I will go to the bar and give the bartender the instructions. Just let her know I will be there in a few." Reid signaled he was good, and Hotch headed back inside.

"So, Spencer, what do you think about all this?" Kira asked.

"I don't know, I mean, I welcome the challenge….."

"But….." she looks at him in question.

"I'm afraid….."

"Well here's the thing, Spencer. He told me this afternoon that he was considering you, but he wasn't 100% sure, so I couldn't really say anything at dinner, until he was absolutely sure…" She then proceeded telling him about her visit to the church and conversation with the priest. "I prayed…..the answer from me is that I would only do it if you will. I really like you Spencer, A LOT…."

"I really like you too…"

"I think we have the ability to keep work at work, and play at home….," she giggled thinking of the predecessors. "The former leads of the division was the agents I was undercover with on my last case before joining the Bureau. They were married to each other through the job. They pretty much spent every moment together, they were close, would die for each other…..in the end, the work will still be there, but we are only on this earth for a short time…..and speaking of short time….I believe our answers have to be in on Monday, I say, take this weekend, and uh….." her fingers trail up his chest to his chin. "explore….our options." He was speechless. "Let's get inside and back to the team before they send a search party, I'm getting thirsty again." She takes his hand and they head inside. Reid heads to the team and she headed to the bar, waiting to place an order.

Hotch looked at Reid when he returned on his own. "She's at the bar," Reid tells them. Morgan and turned to the bar. "Pretty boy, look." Reid turns around and looked in Morgan's line of sight. Kira is at the bar talking to the bartender, a dark haired man moved next to her and began to whisper to her, they see her look at him with a look of shock on her face. Hotch looked too, and instantly recognized the man. "Uh oh."

The team looked at him. "What?" Reid asked.

"Ira Jenkins. They have a past." Reid remembering his and Kira's conversation about her PTSD, he put two and two together.

"I will be right back." He heads in the direction of the bar. Morgan took a deep breath. "This will be fun to watch."

****AN** **This is pretty fun for me to write, I was asked to put off ending this story for a while. So I will do so for the time being, but I do plan on ending it at some point, once they get into the X-Files and become more involved in those cases, and those familiar faces of the show in the next series. This next part will show off her bad ass side. Stay tuned. Yes, they will accept the position, however, some bumps still in the road like any relationship, platonic or romantic.


	15. Facing The Past

Facing The Past

_**KIRA POV**_

Kira makes it to the bar waiting for the bartender to come over. She leans on the bar with her elbows on the old wooden top, and foot on the foot rest. She felt a hand across the bare skin on her back traced down to her ass. "Fancy seeing you here, old friend." The voice, heavy in an Irish accent, smelled of whiskey. She froze at first and turned to the person next to her, her expression in shock.

"What are you doing here, Ira?" she sneered.

"What? Is that how you greet an old friend?" he smiled a sinister smile.

"Yes, in your case."

She feels a familiar set of arms wrap around her from behind. "There you are, sweetheart. I was beginning to worry." Reid spoke lovingly, but loud enough for Ira to hear.

Ira was slightly irritated. "Hey fella, go get your own."

"I believe you need to follow your own advice, Ira" Hotch said from behind Ira, Morgan next to him. Ira turned to them, as she received her Three Wisemen (AN: for those who don't know, its three shots, consisting of Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels, and Jim Beam.) She proceeded to shoot them down, and ordered another Sex on the Deck.

"Aaron Hotchner, I see you never stopped babysitting the base slut." Kira lowered her hands at his words to secure Reid's arms around her, Hotch placed his arm across Morgan to hold him back.

"The last time I checked, rape doesn't make someone a slut." Hotch deadpanned.

"Who said she doesn't like it rough?" Ira smiled not phased. "Besides, I bet you watched over her because you wanted a piece of that fine ass too."

Ira's eyes popped wide. Hotch looked past him and noticed why he had the expression on his face. Kira snuck up on him from behind, and grabbed him by his testicles, and began to squeeze as she brought her lips close to his ear. "Who's the slut now, bitch?" He doesn't say a word. "Now that I have your attention, I will make a little deal with you. Get the fuck out of DC right now, and you keep your jewels. If you fail to do so, and if I even smell you, and yes I remember, or if you come around my team, statute of limitations is still active, I will have you brought up on charges of sexual assault of a federal officer, and you lose your jewels in an unfortunate accident. Deal?" He stayed silent, unable to speak through the pain. "How does it feel now that I have you by the balls, literally and figuratively?" She lets go. "So what's your answer, Ira?"

He shockingly grabbed a $20 bill and laid it on the bar and walked out without a word. She breathed a sigh of relief as he left. Morgan, still in shock at what he witnessed. "Remind me to never piss you off." She smiled. "Be careful with this one Pretty Boy." Morgan and Hotch laughed, Reid was slightly blushing.

"I would never do anything to hurt you, Kira." Reid said.

"Likewise, Doc." She grabbed him by his tie, and brought his lips to hers, sweet and gentle. His hand gently responded, grazing her chin, and they pulled away for a moment, both smiling.

"My man," Morgan moves over to Reid and pats his shoulder.

"Let's get back to the others, I am sure the girls are feeling neglected and Rossi pulling his hair out." Kira said. The men ordered beers and another drink for Kira as she finished hers while waiting. They head back to the table where the cat calls were being sounded off by the women. "Way to establish your dominance, Reid." Emily roughed her hand in his hair, like you would a little brother. Morgan spoke up, shaking his head.

"Now I know where her interrogation technique came from. I don't ever want to get on your bad side."

Hotch started laughing. "I don't think you will ever see him again, I am glad you didn't kill him."

"Too many witnesses. Besides, I left the whips and chains at home." Kira said, taking a drink. All four men chocked on their beer.

"Good point." JJ responded. Reid looked at JJ in shock but remained silent, and blushing more.

Hotch looked at his watch. "It's getting late, you guys ready to go?"

"I am, I think I almost had enough…..excitement to last me tonight." Kira takes another drink.

"Almost?" Reid asked. She didn't have to say anything to him, and her expression spoke volumes to the rest of the team. Garcia began to squeal. "Looks like our boy genius is becoming a man!" Reid blushed more.

As the team began to put their jackets on, Morgan pulled Reid to the side. "Pretty Boy, a minute?"

They head outside for a privacy. "You know I love you like a brother, and I'm just looking out for you. So I slipped something in your jacket pocket. For when the time is right." He winked at Reid as he placed his hands in the pocket and feels a small cardboard box. Condoms.

"Yeah, thanks. I don't think I can do anything with her drinking so much tonight."

"It's for the 'Just in Case'….. Besides, what you thought was vodka she was chasing with her shots was water. She's been evenly distributing her water intake with her alcohol consumption. it's how she is racking up the bar tab that Hotch paid for."

"Smart girl."

"I think you two make a great match. So just do what you feel is right, if you take that step. Be safe while you are at it."

"Thanks man."

"My pleasure, brother. Let's get you back to your lady."

They head inside and Morgan linked his arm with Garcia. "Baby girl, mind if I crash on your couch?"

"Sure, my love." They hugged the rest of the team and headed out. Rossi offered Emily and JJ a ride home, which they accepted. Hotch, Reid and Kira head to Hotch's car. Reid opened the front passenger door for Kira and she got in and buckled her seat belt as Reid closed the door and got behind her in the backseat. Hotch got in the car and started the car and drives off. They rode through in silence besides the radio being played. A song caught her attention.

_**She never slows down.**_

_**She doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, **_

_**feels like its all coming down**_

_**She won't turn around**_

_**The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, **_

_**the tears will not stop raining down**_

The lyrics she recognized. She looked at Hotch. "I still have that CD you sent to me after you left." He looked at her, before he spoke. "Thought it was a good fit for the situation." Reid paid more attention to what was being sang.

_**So stand in the rain**_

_**Stand your ground**_

_**Stand up when it's all crashing down**_

_**You stand through the pain**_

_**You won't drown**_

_**And one day, whats lost can be found**_

_**You stand in the rain**_

She smiled at the song as it's played. "Sometimes if we want to see a rainbow, we have to stand a little rain. She began to sing along with the song.

_**She won't make a sound**_

_**Alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands she'll fall down**_

_**She wants to be found**_

_**The only way out is through everything she's running from wants to give up and lie down.**_

_**So stand in the rain**_

_**Stand your ground**_

_**Stand up when it's all crashing down**_

_**You stand through the pain**_

_**You won't drown**_

_**And one day, whats lost can be found**_

_**You stand in the rain**_

Reid and Hotch continued to listen to her sing along with the song, both were smiling at her voice. Hotch started singing along himself, but in a lower mumble.

_**So stand in the rain**_

_**Stand your ground**_

_**Stand up when it's all crashing down**_

_**Stand through the pain**_

_**You won't drown**_

_**And one day, whats lost can be found**_

_**So stand in the rain**_

_**Stand your ground**_

_**Stand up when it's all crashing down**_

_**You stand through the pain**_

_**You won't drown**_

_**And one day, what's lost can be found**_

_**You stand in the rain.**_

They arrived to their apartment building, as Hotch stopped the car, Kira looked at him. "Thanks for the drinks."

"I'm glad you are thankful, because my wallet isn't" They laughed.

"Thanks for helping me with Ira. I'm glad I had the confidence with you guys at my side."

"No problem. You guys need anything, don't hesitate to call. See you Monday."

They get out and Hotch drives off. They head into the building arm in arm. A pair of eyes following their movements into the building.

**AN: Ok folks, please review I have a few possibilities in my head. The next update might take a day or two. Let's hope soon. **


	16. Rude Awakening

Rude Awakening

**8 AM**

The sunlight was bearing on a sleeping Reid, who awoke to the aroma of brewing coffee. As he rolled to his back, he noticed he was shirtless. He was very confused at first, recognizing he wasn't in his apartment, but when he removed his covers and saw that he was nude below the covers, the events of the night prior began to come back to him.

**12 AM**

_Upon entering her apartment, she was laughing at some random facts that he was talking about alcohol consumption. _

"_Spencer, I don't think I am that piss drunk, besides, I have been drinking a ton of water with the drinks. Plus we ate before we started drinking. So I think I am good."_

_As he turns his back to secure the door, her hands slip around him from behind, her hands move up his chest. She moved around under his arm, then between him and the door. She leaned against it, wrapping the excess of his tie around her hand, gently tugging him gently to her lips. He cupped her face with his hands, deepening the kiss. He trailed his hands down her neck, under her jacket as she let go of his tie. Her jacket falls to the floor. He dipped his head into her neck, "Remember when you said that we should take the weekend and explore our options?" She moaned her acknowledgement. "I want to explore you." _

**Reality**

Footsteps at the door broke him out of his memory of the night before. He looked at the door, seeing Kira, in the dress shirt he was wearing the night before and shorts with two cups of coffee in hand.

"Morning sleepy head. Coffee?"

"Please." He sits up in the bed, making sure his lower half was covered up. "When were you up?"

"4 AM." His eyes widen, "Geez. It was around midnight when we got back" He takes a sip.

"I stayed in bed awake until about 6. I uh obviously needed a shower, so I showered here, then started coffee after I got out." He noticed his shirt.

"That shirt looks good on you…I uh…..hope you had a good time last night." He takes another sip.

"I did….if you don't believe me, your back is proof of that." He reached behind him and felt the areas of raised skin. He began to blush.

"I know you had fun as well." She moved the shirt to where he can see small hickey marks on her collarbone. She had a grin that went ear to ear. They finished their coffees and she takes his mugs. "Go ahead and get a shower, genius, and we can go downstairs for breakfast." She exited the bedroom to give him privacy, as he gathered some of his clothes. She heard the shower turn on and she begins to clean up the jackets that had been thrown in the apartment. A knock was heard and she looked through the peep hole. A woman was seen with flowers in his hand. "Who is it?"

"DC Florist Ma'am."

"Leave it at the door and I can get it in a minute."

"They have to be signed for, Ma'am."

"Slip it under the door."

She dipped down and sounds of the attempt is heard. "I'm trying, the card won't fit underneath."

"Back away from the door." She clipped her weapon on her hip, and looked through the peephole to ensure the woman backed away. As she unlocked the door, the door burst open as the woman rushed in with another man in a ski mask, knocking Kira over. They shut the door and locked it as the woman quickly took Kira's firearm off her hip and held on to her, the man wrapped a bandana around her mouth to gag her, and tied her hands behind her back and settled on her knees. The woman walked in front Kira.

"We know he is here, where is he?" She didn't make any indication of an answer as the other man hear the shower shut off. He waited outside the bathroom door, as the woman aimed the gun straight at Kira's forehead. She doesn't make a sound. The men aimed the gun at the door. As Reid exited the bathroom wearing his slacks and undershirt. He saw the situation in front of him, he froze as the man punched him in the face, knocking him down. The man brought him up and handcuffed his wrists behind him. Reid and Kira look at each other as the woman grabbed a tuff of Kira's hair and pulled her head back.

"Now girly girl, you and I are going to have a little chat. So I am going to remove your gag, and you are going to not scream, got it?" she nods, and the gag is removed. Kira adjusts her jaw.

"Now, that we have that out of the way, any shenanigans, you get punished. I believe you still enjoy that kind of thing, do you, you little slut?"

"Not particularly." The woman brought her hand back and slapped her across the face.

"Don't lie to me, whore."

"I would be lying if I said I did." She deadpanned.

"Now, you worked on the X-Files project, yes?" Kira nods. "I can't hear you." She demanded.

"Yes, very briefly." Kira adjusted her jaw again.

"Recognize this?" The woman flashed a dialysis filter in a baggy in front of her.

"Yes, I do. A dialysis filter."

"Do you know the contents that were in this?" Reid is becoming worried and confused by the line of questions.

"Depends on where you got it will depend on my answer."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm being serious. I've seen it more than once, and depending on where you got it will determine my answer."

"Two weeks ago, collected in this building."

"I don't recall as the results were classified and so were Dr. Reid and I's medical records related to the incident, and my prior incidents dealing with that delivery system."

"You will tell me. I know you are lying." She moved to Reid and aims the gun to his forehead. She then looked at the man. "See if you can talk some sense into her." The man walked over and re-gagged Kira's mouth with the bandana. He hoisted her over his shoulder and walked into the back bedroom. Reid can see him throw her on the bed. He goes back to the door and shuts it. A couple minutes later, he can hear Kira, squealing in pain, and the male laughing…..the laugh was familiar to him. His heart sank. Ian. The noises continued for a few minutes then it went quiet, Reid felt sick to his stomach. The woman waited for a moment, before walking to the door, gun still trained on Reid's head. Reid watched her as she moved to the bedroom door and as she opened it, Kira burst forward, stabbing the woman in the gut, with her other hand another knife in hand, she sliced the woman's neck.

As the woman fell, Reid took in her appearance, his shirt was completely unbuttoned or cut. There were slash marks on her chest and abdomen, and thighs. She walked over to Reid and got the key off the woman and released him. He pulled her into an embrace. She responded to him and began to cry.

"Shhh…shhh…it's ok…I got you, sweetheart." Reid placed his lips to the top of her head.

"We need to call Agent Mulder." Reid nodded.

"I will call Hotch." She shook her head.

"No," Reid looked at her confused, "these people wanted information on a classified operation. Hotch doesn't have the clearance to discuss this. You don't technically either, but you became directly involved when they barged into my apartment, poisoned us, and tried to kill us. I hope Mulder has it declassified for us to tell the team."

"Ok, ok," he placed a kiss on her lips. "We will do this your way." She grabbed the phone off the receiver and dialed Mulder's number.

"Dana? Hi, its Kira." She waited a couple seconds. "I'm not so much, is Mulder there as well?...Oh, do you know if he was able to handle that issue that he and I discussed the other week?...Then he needs to put a speed order on it because two people just tried to kill my partner and I this morning over it…Ok…..see you when you get here." She hangs up.

"Dana will be here in a bit with her forensics interns. She advised that we do not call Hotch about this until Agent Mulder declassifies the mission. But once it happens, our real work begins."

****AN: My apologies for not mentioning this earlier in my last post, but the song that they were listening to was "Stand In The Rain'' by Superchick. I hope I do this one justice. ATTHS (lol)****


	17. A Beautiful Collision

A Beautiful Collision

Kira and Reid secured her front door and went to wait for Dana and Mulder at Reid's apartment. Kira sent the message to Dana letting her know that is where they would be. Kira was doing her best to keep the shirt she was wearing wrapped around her the best she could, as she figured their appearance would be considered evidence. There was a knock at the door. Reid grabbed his firearm and had it at his side when he went to the peephole. He looks and sees Hotch. Reluctantly, Reid opens the door.

"Hotch?" He steps aside as Hotch walked in, and his eyes went to Kira. "Hotch, what are you doing here?"

"Kira, what happened?" He asked but she stayed silent.

"Answer his question first." She deadpanned.

"Garcia got word of reports of a domestic on the scanners. What happened?"

"This…" she motioned their current appearance "is attributed to the classified case that I was undercover for. Hotchner, Ian was in my apartment with another woman and tried to kill us."

"Why didn't you call after?" He was pissed.

"Because their presence was related to the case and Agent Scully instructed us not to tell you until she got here to process the scene and Mulder can declassify the case so we can discuss everything."

"Well I already have Rossi and Prentiss working the profile of Ian…" She held her hand up.

"Don't bother profiling those particular unsubs, they're dead. It's why we are up here, waiting." Reid said softly.

"Are those the clothes you were wearing?" Hotch asked; both of them nodded. "Ok, can you at least tell me about your injuries, Kira?"

**Flashback**

_Ian carried her over her shoulder and threw her on the bed. As he turned around to close the door, she maneuvered to get to a seated position. He turned to her and removed his ski mask. Her eyes widen, head shaking No!. He begins to laugh as he moved to her, crawling on the bed, she waited for him to get closer, she moved her legs around his neck, and began to apply as much pressure as she could muster. The gag prevented her screams and only allowed a muffled screech. A couple minutes passed as his arms went limp. She moved off the bed, freeing herself from her restraints. She moved to the door, but in her mirror, she sees him stir. She sees her pocket knife on her dresser, in one quick second, she grabbed it, knelt, and inserted the blade into his legs, severing his femoral artery, then followed up with a slice to the neck. He bled quickly as he fell back onto the bed. She eased him to the floor to not draw suspicion from the woman. _

_She quickly searched him for any other weapons and found his K-Bar. She removes it, and can hear the woman walking to the door. She crouched at the ready, the door opens as she lunged forward stabbing her in the gut, then with the other knife in hand, she sliced her throat, splatter hitting her. She dropped her knives to the floor, and grabbed the key off of the woman and released Reid. _

**Reality**

"As soon as everything was over, I contacted Agent Scully, and she said she and Mulder was on their way to process the scene and possibly bring you guys up to speed on what is going on."

Hotch was writing everything down that she was saying, as a knock at the door. Kira went to the door and looked through the peep hole herself. She opened the door, letting in a short red headed woman and a taller gentleman. "Hello Dr. Scully, Agent Mulder, this is my team leader Agent Hotchner, and this is Dr. Spencer Reid, my partner. Guys, this is Agent Mulder and Scully. They were originally on the X-Files project." They shook hands.

Mulder stepped forward. "Kira we ordered you not to call them."

Hotch speaks up. "She didn't, our technical analyst intercepted the call for a domestic from a neighbor, recognized the address and called me." Mulder's eyebrow raised.

Scully looked at Kira and Reid. "Are these the clothes you were wearing during the incident?" They both nodded. She grabs her iPhone "Ok, I need to get pictures of your injuries for the report. Dr. Reid, can I get yours first? Agent Mulder needs to speak to Agent Hotchner and Kira for right now. The apartment downstairs is being processed." Reid nods and walks her to the back bedroom and she closes the door for privacy.

Kira looks at Mulder, pulling Reids shirt tighter around her body. "How's the nightmares kiddo?"

She shrugs at his question. "Still have them, but luckily since the stuff left my system, no injuries."

"Good, so, I just got the operation declassified this morning, and we can tell the team what happened, and where your work will be involved initially."

Hotch was confused. "So what happened?"

"In a nutshell," Kira began. "Remember when Reid attacked me a few weeks ago?" He nods.

"It happened on our case, but it was distributed in the water works in the water supply in Boston, where we were investigating a family of military contractors. When it was discovered the son was informing to us and the FBI, they killed the family. I was undercover as Mulder and Dana's daughter. We were made, and they came after us. The mixture in the water supply was designed to make the population more aggressive and violent. The CDC, EPA, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security was called in and the case was deactivated and classified to the highest level of intelligence, including Reid and I's medical records from the detox procedures. Until now."

"What changed their minds?" Hotch asked.

"At first, we requested that it be declassified because of Dr. Reid's involuntary involvement. We wanted to give both him and her the ability to let you guys know what happened to them, so that you can help them through future complications, if a future incident were to happen."

Kira and Hotch looked at Mulder oddly. "There's more?" They both said.

At that time, Scully and Reid come out of the back bedroom, Reid having a fresh change of clothes on. "Agent Smith and Davis were killed in a sting operation pertaining to the case last week." Kira's eyes went wide, and Reid and Hotch looked at her confused.

"Who were they?" Hotch asked.

"They were my handlers on all of my undercover cases." She pinched the bridge of her nose. Scully speaks up. "Kira?" Kira looks at Scully and knew what she wanted. "Excuse me." Kira follows Scully in the back. Reid approaches the men.

"Dr. Reid, I just want to apologize to you and Agent Hotchner for involving you in this. I completely understand if you want to decline the X-Files position."

Reid shakes his head. "Typically, who else is more qualified to take the job?"

"Typically," Mulder started, "Scully and I, and honestly, we are getting too old for this shit. We felt Kira was more than qualified in knowledge in the occult, and can obviously defend herself. You have extensive knowledge in a lot of other areas that would be beneficial to the project. Scully and I would have mentored you guys into the cases when needed since this was going to be done between cases that your team at the BAU would go out on."

Reid looked at Mulder. "What about Kira and I?" Mulder smiled.

"Kid, let me give you some advice. The X-Files project was my life's work, and Scully inherited it along the way, and it cost us more than you can ever know. The BAU is very similar in regards of being together with the team more than your own families. If you two, hypothetically pursued a romantic relationship or hell, get married, I wouldn't get so bent out of shape about it, regardless of Bureau policy." Reid nods in agreement. "I'm in."

"Me too." Kira sounded as she and Scully came out of the back bedroom. Scully placed her arm around Kira. "I'm going to escort her downstairs, the forensics team should be done so she can get some clothes. I take it, you want to stay with Dr. Reid?" Kira nods with a grin. "Ok. Let's go, we will be right back gentleman." They head out. "Wait for me!" Reid calls out and headed out after them.

Hotch looks at Mulder. "So how will this work?"

Mulder places his hands on his hips. "I'm actually setting up an office for them at the BAU, and having all the files transported there, and I will be in the building to mentor them through the transition. Any X-File, they report to me, BAU priority first, they report to you. If we have to intermingle, I will talk to you. I was a profiler before remember? I know what it feels like to have someone pissing on the wrong tree." Hotch laughed.

"Sounds good." Kira, Scully, and Reid came back upstairs. Reid and Kira each had a bag in hand. Hotch recognized one of them as her Go bag. "No suits, Kira?" Mulder asked smiling.

"Hell no!" Kira responded. "Not if I can help it. I already have one in a locker at work."

"Good girl." Scully responds. "That way if you have to report to a superior's office, you have something to present yourself in."

"Reid, mind taking these somewhere?" He nodded and grabbed the bag from her and takes it to the bedroom, and drops it off.

"We better leave you to it." Scully said. "See you guys on Monday, and Kira, I want to go over some forensics training with you, while Mulder goes over the files with Dr. Reid as long as you don't have a case." They nod as Kira gives Dana and Mulder a hug before they head out.

Hotch looked at them. "Are you sure you guys don't need to go to the hospital?"

"Agent Scully is a medical doctor and looked us over while we were documenting our injuries." Reid informed him.

"She will also act as our physician in the event that injuries of unknown origin were to happen." Kira added. "That will be extended to the team if you guys come on our cases as well."

Hotch nods. "Ok I will leave you two to get settled. See you later. Call if you need anything." He lets himself out. She breathes a sigh of relief. Exhaustion from the adrenalin rush dissipating.

"Are you sure you want to accept the position, and be with me at the same time?" Kira asked him bluntly.

"I wasn't lying when I told Agent Mulder that I would do it, and I wouldn't want any other partner than you." She smiled at his words.

"Well in that case, lets go to bed. After today, I don't want to get out of bed until Monday morning." She smiled.

"I second that, however, if that is the case, I need to do some shopping."

"For what?"

"Two guesses….." his eyebrows raise.

"Oh, food and condoms?" she laughs. He nods while he blushes.

"Then my G-Man, you go do that, I am going to conserve my energy for when you get back." She kisses him softly. "Take your time, the longer, the more rested." She winks and heads to his bedroom. He shakes his head and grabs his messenger bag with his essentials. He steps out and locks the door, and as he headed to the market, his thought that ran in his head. "Here's to a beautiful Collision."

THE END

****AN: Ok this is the end of the story, however, there will be an epilogue chapter to close this out. I have to end this here because of needing to do the CM/X-Files crossover, and I want the X-Files fans to see this side of it too. Please follow me as an Author to get the next adventure, which I will begin late next week as I have family coming into town. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Love you guys, big shout out to Tannerrose5 and AnnieDD who consistently messaged me kind words and encouragement through the series. Thank you again, and God Bless.****


	18. Epilogue: The Surprise

Epilogue: The Surprise

**6 Months Later**

The elevator doors at the BAU opens as Reid and Kira get off and head to their offices near the bullpen. The past six months have been rough for the both of them. Between their case loads with the primary team, they also go on short case assignments and deliver new profiles on the cases that Mulder and Scully assign or approve for them to work on. Both Reid and Kira needed a break, so they arranged for a trip to Las Vegas for Reid's mother to meet her baby boy's true love. Kira was well aware of Diane Reid's condition, but it didn't bother her. Even on one of the days they were visiting, she had one of her bad days, yet Kira was not afraid. Besides just to visit, Reid wanted to give his mother good news, that they were expecting, and Kira was a little over a month along. They had gone to the Justice of the Peace in Las Vegas with Diane and one of her nurses as a witness. They decided to hold off on getting wedding bands because they didn't want the team to know just yet about the pregnancy, let alone getting married.

Today was their first day back from Las Vegas as they head to their office. Kira stepped into her office to drop off their stuff as Reid double tracked back into the break room to grab his coffee and fix her a cup of tea.

"Welcome back kid! How was your break?" Reid hears Rossi behind him.

"Hey Rossi! It was good, we went to Vegas to visit my mom. I haven't seen her in a while and Kira wanted to meet her."

"How is she?" Rossi asked with a smile.

"She is doing well. She loves Kira to death, and the feeling is mutual I think."

"That's really good. Listen, I am inviting the team to dinner tonight and I am extending the invitation to you guys." Rossi looked at him with a smile.

"I will have to talk to Kira, but I have no issue with it." He grins.

"Oh, she said she was good with it. I asked her when you came in here and she referred me to you."

"Yeah, she let's me take the lead in the relationship, and she takes the lead at work."

"Interesting, I am assuming it's for biblical reasons that she does?" Reid nods. "Well, see you tonight."

They part ways as Reid heads to their office, and Rossi to his. Rossi shuts his door and sent out a mass text message. "It is set."

**8 hours later**

Kira and Reid head out of their apartment to her car to head over to Rossi's. Reid looks at Kira as she began to drive. "Do you think they know that we eloped?"

"I honestly cannot tell you. I mean, I got our real names on a certificate but the system won't reflect for 30 days. I mean…..I will take your last name in addition to mine, to keep our professional names. So who knows, you haven't said or did anything to give it away?"

"I don't think so." He begins to fidget with his hands. "Are you excited about what is happening in roughly eight months?"

"Scared and excited to be honest. I was thinking about Mulder and Dana when we were flying home." She said honestly. "They lost out on a family because of the job. I want to make everything work you know?" Reid nods.

"Let's not worry about that tonight, let us worry about telling them about the baby and our marriage and take it one day at a time." She nods and takes his hand in hers. They arrived at Rossi's as they are the first to arrive. They get out and head to the front door, as Rossi opened the door to greet them. "Ah mia familia!" Rossi gave Kira a kiss on each cheek, and shakes Reid's hand and lets them in. "Wine?"

Reid nodded as Kira spoke. "I'm good, but water would be good?" Rossi headed to the kitchen.

"I must apologize guys, but we had to keep secrets from each other," he brings back three glasses, 2 wines and one water, "but I wouldn't have been able to get you two here tonight." He moves his eyes past them. They turned to see Hotch and JJ behind them, each holding a garment bag.

"What is going on?" Kira was surprised.

JJ spoke up. "You guys seriously think you guys were going to get married and us not find out about it."

"Damnit Garcia!" Kira huffed.

"Garcia had nothing to do with it." Another familiar voice said. They looked to their left, Mulder and Scully were standing there, him in a tux, Dana in a deep purple cocktail dress that matched JJ and Hotch's outfits.

"How did you guys find out?" Reid asked them.

"We have our methods." They stepped aside revealing Diane Reid behind them.

"Mom? You told them." He smiled, as he walked over and hugged her.

"I am sorry, Spencer, I know you guys aren't the types who like to be the center of attention, but Kira deserves a real wedding."

"And a real wedding she will have." Rossi added. "Ladies could you get Kira ready, I will get Reid ready." He escorts Reid and his mother to one of the guest rooms, and Kira motioned that she will catch up with the ladies.

"Mulder? Hotchner? A word?" The guys approached her. "Um…. I was wondering, if maybe the both of you can walk me down the aisle, and give me away?" The guys smiled,

Mulder nodded. "As you wish." She smiled and headed upstairs.

Mulder looked at Hotchner. "Did you locate the rings?"

Hotchner nodded. "I did, I just hope they fit them."

**AN: Ok I was going to make the whole thing in one chapter, but I felt it needed to be separate. I hope you enjoy the wedding.**


	19. Epilogue: Amazed

Epilogue: Amazed

**2 Hours Later**

The guests began to arrive to the house. Rossi, Will, and Kevin were guiding guests to the backyard. Morgan and a few other people were setting up the decorations. They decide to keep the decorations simple. Once everyone was seated, JJ headed down the aisle with little Henry as the ring bearer, as Scully followed close behind. A couple minutes later, Father McCue stepped forward as Reid escorted his mother down the aisle and had her seated at the front. He kissed her cheek and took his place at the altar. The music began to play, and the audience stood. Reid and Father McCue's jaws dropped.

Reid recognized the dress immediately. It was the dress that JJ married Will in, holding a blue carnation bouquet. Hotch and Mulder each had an arm, escorting her down the aisle, her veil over her face. When they reached the front, Mulder and Hotch took a side of the veil and raised it off her face, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Spencer and Kira in marriage. Through their time together, they have come to realize that their personal dreams, hopes, and goals are more attainable and more meaningful through the combined effort and mutual support provided in love, commitment, and family; and so they have decided to live together as husband and wife."

As the ceremony went, Kira and Reid did the sand pour ceremony, to signify that they were two separate people becoming one. When the time came for the ring exchange, Hotch stepped forward. "Kira, this took me a while to locate, but these were your parent's wedding bands. I know your mother would want you to wear hers, and Spencer, her parents were two of the most loving people I have ever met. May your love be undying as theirs had been."

Reid took the rings and handed them to the priest. He began to pray over them, and handed Spencer the ring for Kira. Spencer took her hand and repeated after the priest. "I, Spencer Walter Reid, take you, Kira Marie Stansen, to be my lawful wedded wife. To have and to hold for richer, for poorer, for sickness, and in health, for as long as we both shall live." He slipped the ring on her finger. She takes her father's ring and rubbed the gold band, bringing a tear to her eyes.

"I, Kira Marie Stansen, take you Spencer Walter Reid, to be my lawful wedded husband to have and to hold for richer, for poorer, for sickness, and in health, for gunshots, stab wounds, and hostage situations," the crowd giggled at the joke. "for our child who is due to arrive in 8 months," there was gasps in the crowd. "for as long as we both shall live." She slipped the ring on his finger.

Father McCue smiled. "If anyone who is against this union, please speak now or forever hold your peace." Morgan in the crowd shouted, "And if you object this, we gonna have some words." The crowd laughs.

"By the power that is vested in me, in the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Spencer, you may kiss your bride." They lean in to a light kiss. As they pull apart, Father McCue announces. "I now present to you, Dr. and Mrs. Spencer Reid!" Everyone gave them a standing ovation as they departed to the dinner tables for a receiving line. Everyone was congratulating them on their marriage and new addition. The team for the most part gave them a hard time for not telling them, but they understood.

After dinner, Kira stood up and went to the stage and takes a microphone pack and attaches it to her, and puts the headset on. "Hey everyone, may I have your attention please?" Everyone falls silent. "I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for this huge surprise wedding. Dave, thank you for opening your home to everyone here and all who put this together, to Aaron Hotchner, for being one of two major father figures after my parents died, if it weren't for you I would not be here. To Fox Mulder and Dana, for being great mentors among others. To Spencer, my love, your love leaves me amazed, and it brought us a future child to raise." She motioned him to join her on the dancefloor as music began to play. Mulder and Scully looked at eachother and smiled as Kira began to sing.

**Every time our eyes meet**

**This feeling inside me**

**Is almost more than I can take**

Morgan looked at her shocked and his jaw dropped along with a few other patrons.

**Baby, when you touch me**

**I can feel how much you love me**

**And it just blows me away**

**I've never been this close to anyone or anything**

**I can hear your thoughts, I can see your dreams**

Diane Reid watched her only son dance with his wife awkwardly at first due to the height difference, but he slowly got the rhythm. Rossi sat next to her and whispered in her ear. "They are beautiful together." Diane nods, not taking her eyes off of them.

**I don't know how you do what you do**

**I'm so in love with you**

**It just keeps getting better**

**I wanna spend the rest of my life**

**With you by my side**

**Forever and ever**

Hotch noticed how the whole team was there, but Emily couldn't make it because of being short notice. He felt bad, but her Interpol duties took priority. He looked at Spencer and Kira, reminding him of how he and Haley were on their wedding day. He hopes that they don't let the job get in their way, but he was confident that it wouldn't. He reaches for Beth's hand and held it as they watched. He couldn't help but think how much Kira looks like her mother. He scanned the crowd.

**Every little thing that you do**

**Baby, I'm amazed by you**

**The smell of your skin**

**The taste of your kiss**

**The way you whisper in the dark**

**Your hair all around me**

**Baby, you surround me**

**You touch every place in my heart**

Morgan and Garcia were holding hands, and Morgan leaned into Garcia's ear. "Mama, I have a feeling we will be spoiling the kid rotten when he or she gets here." Garcia laughed and whispered back. "I will make room for the baby genius for when they go on cases." Morgan laughed as said. "You are too much mama." He kissed her cheek.

**Oh, it feels like the first time every time**

**I wanna spend the whole night in your eyes**

**I don't know how you do what you do**

**I'm so in love with you**

**It just keeps getting better**

**I wanna spend the rest of my life**

**With you by my side**

**Forever and ever**

**Every little thing that you do**

**Baby, I'm amazed by you**

JJ and Will held Henry as they began to sway to the song, enjoying Kira's singing. Will leans in and whispers to JJ. "Do they make you think about more children?" She smiled. "Yeah in a way. Do you think it is time to try again?" Will smiled. "We can try all we want, Sug. It's all in God's timing, let Him decide for us." JJ kissed Will for a brief moment and sat Henry in a vacant chair. She takes Will's hand and leads him to the dance floor, and as they held each other they began to sway. As the song progressed, more couples came to the floor and began to sway.

**Every little thing that you do**

**I'm so in love with you**

**It just keeps getting better**

**I wanna spend the rest of my life**

**With you by my side**

**Forever and ever**

As the night went on, everyone began to enjoy each other's company. Everyone for just one night, celebrating a union between two people, and the product of that union. For just that moment, the monsters of the world were at bay, the demons remained in their dormant state, and for once, normalcy existed in the lives of the people who became family through the toughest jobs in the world.

**Every little thing that you do**

**Oh, every little thing that you do**

**Baby, I'm amazed by you**

THE END

**AN: And it is done! Thank you so much for the reading and reviews. I hope you enjoyed this two part epilogue. The song is Amazed by Lonestar, which I do not own. I own nothing but Kira. I will be taking a one week hiatus to take care of some business and research for the next story. If you want to know the continued story, please follow me as the author, because it will be a CM/XFiles cross over, so it won't show up in the Feeds. Thanks for your support. God bless.**


	20. Update: Author's Note

Authors Note: The continuation of this story is up. It is a crossover called X-Minds. X-Files/Criminal Minds Crossover. I hope you like the dynamic it creates. Thanks for being a loyal reader. It may go strictly CM, it may not. The readers will determine it. 


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